Cries in the Night
by Hielo y Sombra
Summary: When two girls have an exploration mission that goes awry and Yulia intervenes, they get thrown almost two thousand years into the future! Lost in a world both familiar and alien to them, they must adapt quickly to survive. Easier said than done when one uses a fighting style that no longer exists and the other's species is extinct. 'T' for violence & language, collaboration
1. Prologue: Ruins of Light and Time

Summary: When two girls have an exploration mission that goes awry and Yulia intervenes, they get thrown almost two thousand years into the future! Lost in a world both familiar and alien to them, they must adapt quickly to survive. Easier said than done when one uses a fighting style that no longer exists and the other's species is extinct.

Rating: 'T' for violence, language, and a little romance later on

Pairings: Ion/OC, Luke/Tear, Asch/Natalia, Guy/OC, and a little Sync/Anise... (Don't ask about the last one, because I'm honestly not sure where it came from...)

* * *

_Kairi: Hey there! It's me, Kairi, or Twilight PhoenixFyre, to those of you who've read my stories. I'm on this account because this story is a collaboration fic between myself and Winx. Well, kinda. She's pretty slow, so, aside from this prologue, which we worked on together, chapters from her will be few and far between._

_Winx: Hey now, no being rude!_

_Kairi: I'm just being honest. Anyway, do you realize how hard your writing style is? And to think, I wanted to use it for Whisper's POV..._

_Winx: Oh, quit whining. Anyways, this is adapted from a roleplay that Kairi and I did... are doing... whatever. Well, except for a large part of the prologue, but that's beside the point._

_Kairi: Anyways... Disclaimer time!_

_Winx: We don't own Tales of the Abyss, though we wished we did. Whisper belongs to Kairi while Echo belongs to me, and Whisper's species belongs to both of us._

_Kairi: Read, enjoy, and please review._

* * *

Cries in the Night

Prologue

Ruins of Light and Time

"Hey, you realize Mother will skin you alive if she catches you wearing men's clothes again, don't you?" my brother's voice stops me as I head out the door. I turn and look at him, noting that he's making another glider as I do so.

"Is she going to find out?" I ask him. He smiles conspiratorially and shakes his head. "Good. I'm heading out with Echo. She wanted to go exploring in the forest, something about ruins or something," I tell him. "I'll see you later, Van!"

I close the door behind me and run up to the nearby cliff. My village is well-hidden in a valley. The humans call it Teslar Valley, but to my people, it's the Valley of the Velis. Of course, there is only one remaining village there, but the valley has been the home of the Velis since before the great city of Tanis was built. Looking up at the sky, I smile as I catch sight of the fonstone ring glinting in the sun.

I pull my bow off of my back and pull something else out. It's a piece of Velis technology, and when I press a button, the long, rectangular shape created by collapsing metal opens up and locks open, turning into a relatively flat, wing-shaped piece. There are three indentations. Two of them, placed on either side of the center, are ovular and deeper at one end, one is circular and placed in the middle of the metal.

I'm holding the wing-shaped contraption with my right hand, my bow with my left. Carefully, I slip the metal into the bow so that the bow is the front edge of the 'wings.' It's a perfect fit, because that's how my brother made it to be.

Holding the 'wings' with my right hand, I reach into the bag on my left hip and pull out a stone. It's encased in a metal cage of sorts. Two criss-crossing rings wrap around it, connecting on opposite sides of the stone, which is glowing blue-silver. I insert the stone into the circular slot in the middle and turn it half a quarter to the left.

The glider comes to life in my hands as the flightstone cover flips into place, and I quickly grab the top with my left hand while I hold the bottom end down with my right. I take a few running steps and then jump on, and suddenly, I'm in the air.

Flying on a glider is a wonderful feeling. The wind is flowing through my hair, or what's loose from my long braid, and caressing my mostly-bare skin. Even though I have to stay crouched to control the glider, my legs don't get tired any more, because I fly like this so often. My feet are in the ovular indentations on the glider, and the way they're kept tilted forward plus the fact that I'm not simply standing on smooth metal helps me keep my grip on the glider.

Almost every Velis in our valley owns a glider, mostly because the gliders are the only way to get out of the valley safely. It is possible to leave the valley by foot, but no one has ever succeeded in getting in without a glider.

My brother, Vanlyss, or Van as he prefers, is a professional when it comes to building the gliders. Mine was specially made because I'm an archer. The support for the wings of the glider is actually my bow, and the string is made of special materials so it won't break.

I'm taking my time flying when I spot a familiar flash of purple down below on the road to Charon. I maneuver the glider a little lower, and my suspicions are confirmed. I fly down, close to the ground, and shift so that my right hand is controlling the glider instead of my left. Then, slowing down and hitting a button on the glider, I jump off, landing on the ground with perfect balance born of practice. I pull the flightstone out of the glider and put it away, then collapse the glider's wings and put them on my back.

"Hey, Whisper!" a girl calls out. Turning around, I see that it's the purple-haired girl I had seen a moment ago. Smiling and pulling my bow around my torso, I walk over to her. She embraces me and then we part to get a look at each other. It's only been a week, but Echo and I are used to being together all of the time. "You're wearing Van's clothes again," the purple-haired ninja states.

"Yes, what of it?" I ask. She smiles and shakes her head.

"Nothing. Hey, you remembered my invitation to join me in Ruin Exploring, didn't you?" she replies. I cross my arms and pretend to look thoughtful.

"That's right, you sent me that invitation a few days ago," I say. Echo looks annoyed.

"Don't tell me you forgot about it," she grumbles. I smile.

"No. I just like getting you all worked up," I tell her teasingly. She looks confused for a moment before irritation crosses her countenance.

"Why I oughta…" she mumbles. I laugh, and after a moment, her smile returns. "Anyway, you wanna come or not?" she asks. I nod.

"Did you really think I was just flying around?" I ask. She rolls her eyes and starts walking, heading into the forest. I follow her, happy to be in her company again.

We've been walking for almost an hour in the forest when we find the 'ruins' Echo wanted to check out. I'm about to ask her how she found out about them when monsters attack. Echo pulls out her shuriken, and I pull my bow off again and draw an arrow, nocking it and preparing to fire.

The fight, if it can be called that, is brief. Echo has spent a lot of time practicing lately, so she's a little stronger than I am now. I frown when I realize this, noting that I'll have to work on my own training soon.

Echo uses one of the Ninjitsu Artes to stun all four of the monsters while I fire a few arrows their way. I've slacked off in my training, but that doesn't mean I'm not strong. Two arrows kill one monster, and the third brings a bird-like monster to the ground. Echo's shuriken cuts through it and kills another, and the two of us aim an arrow and a shuriken at the last monster.

"Jeez, that was easy," Echo mutters. I chuckle and pick up the little Gald the monsters had found that travelers had dropped. We go a little further into the ruins, curiosity driving us on.

We've been exploring the broken structures and standing stones for a few hours, taking out the odd monster or two that attacks us, when we find the door. It looks like the opening of a cave, but it's too perfect, too rounded, to be natural, which means that it was made by whoever made the village? shrine? that became these ruins.

"Should we go in?" Echo asks. I look at her and raise an eyebrow.

"I don't know. I'd be most grateful if the leader of this expedition would make up her mind for us," I reply, sarcasm lacing my words. Echo rolls her eyes at me and heads through the archway carefully. I follow her, knowing that her eyesight would be so much better than mine. After all, she had been trained to see and move silently in the dark. Not only had I not received that training, but Velis had poor night vision anyway.

I'm not too concerned about what could possibly be waiting for us in these ruins. This close to the valley, they were probably built by the Velis, a hypothesis that was supported by the knowledge that the humans hadn't populated this area until quite recently, only a couple hundred years at most.

What I am concerned about, however, is monsters. They like to hide in darker places where it's easier to overcome prey, and since I can barely see in this darkness, my bow won't do me or Echo a lot of good. Thinking back on it now, that was probably why she asked me if we should go in or not.

"Hey, there's light up ahead," Echo's voice reaches me. She's speaking softly, probably in case the tunnel tries to collapse on us, but an echo still sounds in the distance. I can't help but giggle. "What's so funny?" Echo asks. I bite my lip to stop my giggling, then hiss when my fang pierces the inside. "You just bit yourself," Echo states quietly. I can imagine the look on her face, one that says 'Oh Lorelei, tell me you're joking.'

"You're echoing, Echo," I finally tell her when I decided that my lip will survive. I hear Echo sigh.

"Yeah, yeah," she grumbles. I can hear her footsteps again, so I follow those, and as Echo said, we come out into a nice-sized cavern that, somehow, is lit. "Wow… How do you think it's staying lit?" Echo asks. I roll my eyes.

"Give me a minute to look around and I might be able to answer that," I told her. I've got just about as many clues as she does, so I start walking around, trying to figure out where the glow is coming from. I'm examining the walls when I notice that the ground is sandy. "Echo, be careful of sinkholes. We're walking on sand," I warn my companion. I hear her make a sound of agreement, and then I go back to my investigation.

I've searched the entire cavern without going into one of the three paths out of it and I can't find any reason for the light. "Well, it looks like my investigation has proven fruitless. Yours?" I tell Echo. She shrugs and stands up, and I roll my eyes again. "You weren't even trying to look."

"Hey, I prefer to leave all of the detective stuff to you. You've got the photographic memory, after all," she replies. I sigh.

"What is it with you and teasing me about a trait of my species?" I ask. She smiles and heads down one of the paths in the wall. "Is that the path we came down?" I inquire.

"No. I marked that path with a green ribbon and a kunai," she tells me. Turning to look at the path that wasn't in my line of sight, I see the knife mentioned sticking out of the rock wall, green ribbon tied to the end. I sigh and follow her down this second tunnel, and, after walking for a while, we find another cavern, just like the one before. Again, it is lit by a source unknown.

However, unlike the first cavern, this one has only one path connecting to it, and that is the path we came down. Echo seems disappointed, but we walk back the way we had come and she marks that path with a kunai and a red ribbon. Then we head down the third and final tunnel.

This one takes twists and turns, and is not at all straight or level as the last two were. This tunnel takes us down, further below ground, and I have to wonder where we are going now.

Echo finally sees a light at the end, and we move a little faster. I'm not at all surprised when we come upon another cavern like the ones we've already found. But this one, unlike the second one, has another path.

Unfortunately, this cavern also contains a few monsters. They see us almost as soon as we walk into the cavern, and I take my bow from my back as an instinct. Then they attack, and Echo charges forward to hold them off, because I've started casting.

The fonic arte I'm using is one based in the sixth fonon, and as I gather fonons, I finally figure out how the caverns are lit. "Thou who wouldst take revenge, carve here thy holy seal… Éclair de Larmes!" I chant. The arte isn't very effective against the monsters, and the caverns darken a bit.

"Note to self, no using artes that require the sixth fonon," Echo says as I start firing arrows. I laugh nervously as we kill one of the monsters. I'm worried, because they seem to be really strong.

I don't notice the monster sneaking up behind me, nor do I hear Echo's warning. My world is black before her words can reach me.

* * *

_White, gold, red, blue, green, all swirling, twirling, twisting around me here. Where here is, I don't know. Everyone I know seems to be somewhere else, though somehow, I'm not too surprised. I'm just floating here, wondering what happened. Thinking back on it, all of my memories are fuzzy. That's funny, one of the clearer memories is of a girl with purple hair teasing me about photographic memory. Maybe it's someone else's memory she's talking about._

_I'm pondering who the girl is when a giant mass of gold gathers and then dissipates, leaving behind a new addition to the scenery. It's a person, small of stature, with short, purple hair. I realize that it's the girl from my memories. Huh… Is this a dream then, where thinking about people brings them here?_

"_**Come, children. It is time to wake,"** a quiet but distinctively female voice reaches my ears. I'm confused, because the voice is unfamiliar. Within moments, another golden mass appears and disappears, leaving another person in the swirling colors. This time, however, it's a woman I'm unfamiliar with, wearing white and blue and tan, with ash-brown hair and warm blue eyes. **"It's alright. You can wake,"** she tells the purple-haired girl._

"_**Who are you?"** I hear a familiar voice ask. The purple-haired girl turns to me and looks confused. **"I know you… Whisper,"** she says. I realize that she's said my name a moment later, and hers comes to me almost as soon as I realize it._

"_**Yeah, I'm here too, Echo,"** I tell her. Then, together, we turn to the unfamiliar woman, waiting for an explanation. A golden mass is floating behind her. She smiles._

"_**My name is Yulia,"** she says. The name rings so many bells in my memory that I'm frozen in shock, not that I can move easily anyway. **"I need your help. I fear that the Score I read fifty years ago will not be overturned. There is hope, however. I want to send the two of you almost two thousand years into the future."**_

"_**Wait, you read the Score, didn't you? I thought you wanted us to follow it,"** Echo says. I nod, just as confused. Yulia looks sad, though._

"_**I read the end of Auldrant in the Score. I don't want that to happen, so I've left clues, warnings, and I'm hoping that my descendants will be able to stop it,"** she explains. I stare at her in shock. Echo and I had grown up being taught that following the Score was the best choice you could ever make, despite how young the prophecy was, and here was the woman who created it, telling us that she didn't want us to follow it to the end. Then again, I'm not sure I'd want to follow it either, if it really does end with the death of the world._

"_**But, won't it be dangerous to move us through time? What about the people who know us? And won't the people in the future wonder where we came from?"** I ask. Yulia's smile comes back, though it's still tainted by sorrow._

"_**You two went out monster and ruin hunting, remember? Your Scores stated that you wouldn't return from that expedition. The people you know believe you dead…"**__ she explains. I think back to my last birthday Score. _'You will live patiently until you seek out something new, and what you will find shall surpass your expectations, though it will take you far away from everything you know.'_ Well, this definitely surpasses my expectations._

"_**Now that I think about it…"** Echo mutters, and I know that she's come to the same conclusion I have. But Echo doesn't look like she's quite made up her mind yet, though I know I have. In fact, I think I know now why my memories are fuzzy, though they're clearing up. I've died. My memories shouldn't exist at all…_

_I look up at Yulia and the golden mass floating behind her, which I assume is Lorelei. **"Well, I'll go,"** I tell them. Yulia's smile seems brighter somehow, like some of the sorrow has faded from her eyes. Echo seems shocked._

"_**Jeez, Whisper. I'm usually the one who jumps into stuff,"** she says. I shrug._

"_**We're already here… We might as well,"** I reply. A few moments of silence later, Echo nods, having made up her mind._

"_**Alright. I guess we're both in, then,"** she says. Yulia raises her hands, and Lorelei envelopes the three of us. I'm blinded, but I can still hear Yulia's voice before I black out completely._

"_**Thank you."**_

* * *

_Winx: Well, that turned out nice._

_Kairi: -glaring- You just had to make me expand the prologue, didn't you?_

_Winx: Well, I thought that it would be a good idea to explain a little more about what Whisper is and what their time period is like. Besides, keep in mind that the—_

_Kairi: -puts a hand over Winx's mouth- Shut up before you start giving away spoilers!_

_Winx: -from behind Kairi's hand- Sorry._

_Kairi: Please review on the way out! FanFiction made it really easy... (So I hear.) And I happen to love constructive critisism... And please notify me if there's a verb that's in the past tense that should be in present tense, since I was trying to mimick Winx's writing style and it's obviously quite different from my own._

_Winx: Okay, enough talking! -throws down smoke bomb and disappears-_

_Kairi: Well, I'm off to go work on 'A Spatial Tear.' Oh, one more thing before I go. I'm planning on updating this every three weeks, but a lot of reviews might prompt me to update early. -winks and teleports out-_


	2. Chapter 1: A Ninja in Daath

_Kairi: Hey! We're back!_

_Winx: That's right! And I know that Kairi said she'd only update every three weeks… but since the prologue was so short, I bugged her into posting Chapter One after only two weeks… Okay, thirteen days if you want to be really picky about it._

_Kairi: Winx, shut up._

_Winx: NEVER! –begins bouncing around like crazy-_

_Kairi: -sighs- Whisper, where did that paper with the reviewer responses, er, response go?_

_Whisper: -hands over the paper-_

_Kairi: Thanks. (Guest)- Thank you. I like hearing that, seeing as how it was a totally different writing style and Winx made me expand on it so much… As for reactions… Well, you'll see. And as we've said a couple of times, we're keeping to a schedule… (Unless we get really far ahead, and then we may update a little sooner.)_

_Winx: Oh, and would anonymous/guest reviewers please leave names to be addressed by in our responses? Please? It makes it less confusing…_

_Kairi: Yes, please. And, with that out of the way…_

_Winx & Kairi: We don't own Tales of the Abyss, but Echo and Whisper belong to us… As well as any and all made-up artes._

_Winx: Enjoy the chapter! –bounces into the sky and disappears-_

_Kairi: Uh… Whisper…_

_Whisper: I've got it…_

* * *

Cries in the Night

Chapter 1

A Ninja in Daath

**(Echo's POV)**

I woke up with a huge yawn, just as I always do. Then I rolled over with the intention of pulling the covers back over my head and returning to sleep. Of course, that didn't quite happen. I fell out of the bed instead, managing to stay tangled up in the sheets as well. Sighing, I sat up, and immediately, my defenses were on the max.

'_Where in Auldrant am I?'_ I wondered, looking around. Then the conversation with Yulia came back to me. _'Hmm… I must be in the future, then. I wonder what year it is?'_ I thought. I was half-way through fighting my way out of the sheets when a woman wearing a strange faded pink and purple dress walked in. Her hair was dark and her eyes were kind, and she reminded me of my older sister.

"Oh, are you alright?" she asked. I grinned, then managed to completely untangle myself. Placing the no-longer-a-completely-knotted-mass-of-sheets onto the bed, I stood and raised an eyebrow at my clothes.

"I'm fine… but what in the world am I wearing?" I replied. It was a sleeveless pink dress that, honestly, looked like it should have fallen to my knees, but came up a little short. The woman's face flushed red.

"I found you outside in the street. It had been raining, so I changed you out of the dress you had been wearing and put you into something of Anise's. It was a little short, but otherwise it seems to fit fine," she told me. "Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Pamela."

I scowled, more because of the color of the dress than anything else. "I'm Echo," I told her. "Um… are my clothes dry now?" I asked, hoping whatever I had been found in was a more sensible color, since I doubted that Yulia had let me wake up with my clothes from the past. Pamela smiled.

"Yes, they're right over there," she told me, pointing to the desk. I smiled when I saw the black bundle of cloth there, sitting next to a brown bag. "I just came back to get my husband's commonplace book. Will you be alright on your own?" she said, holding up a brown book. I nodded.

"Yeah. I'm gonna change and then take a walk. Um, thank you," I told her. She smiled and left, and I quickly and quietly pulled the pink dress off, folding it and dropping it on the bed I hadn't been sleeping in before unfolding the clothes on the desk. I dressed myself a bit more happily, the simple black dress hugging my form comfortably. I pulled on the black boots that were sitting under the desk, then searched through the bag and put my belt on, smiling at the familiar look of the splash of purple over the black.

Finally, I slung the bag over my shoulder and set out to find something to do. I looked back at the mess on the bed as I stepped through the door, and Whisper's nagging voice in the back of my head prompted me to at least make the bed before I left.

I had been wandering around for a little bit when I found myself standing on a bridge, looking down at what appeared to be a cathedral. I was curious and was about to investigate, but before I could get far, a dark-haired girl in pink walking around with a green-haired boy stepped onto the bridge, and the girl yelled 'hey!'

I turned to look at her as she ran over.

"Aren't you the girl my momma found out in the streets last night?" the girl asked. I stared at her blankly before I recognized the dress she was wearing under what appeared to be a rather decorative tabard.

"Wait, your mother is Pamela?" I asked. She nodded, and I smiled. "You must be Anise then," I said, noting that she wasn't that much shorter than me. Maybe an inch or two.

"So, you know my name then… But what's yours?" Anise asked. I struck a pose, just to spite the voice in the back of my mind that sounded an awful lot like Whisper's.

"Name's Echo," I told her. She and the boy with her laughed. "So, now that we know each other, who are you?" I asked the boy behind Anise.

"I'm Ion," he said. Anise looked a little on edge, for whatever reason. I brushed it off and smiled at Ion.

"Nice to meet you. Anyway, have you seen a Velis around here?" I asked. I was about to expand on my description when I saw the look on Anise's face.

"Um… The Velis are extinct, Echo…" she said, a cautious and almost condescending note in her voice. I looked at her, surprise written across my face. Then I realized what it would mean for Whisper, and the surprise shifted into horror. If the Velis really were extinct, one appearing so suddenly could have dire consequences.

"Okay… have you seen a girl with white-silver hair and dark skin?" I asked, praying that I could find Whisper quickly. Anise looked exasperated now.

"That sounds like the general description of a Velis… Sheesh. You're acting like they aren't actually extinct," she said. Ion looked at me curiously.

"You're not from around here, are you?" he asked then. I froze for a moment and then shook my head.

"No. Honestly, I'm not even sure where I am. I left the village with Whisper, got attacked by monsters, and then woke up here," I replied, leaving the conversation with Yulia out of the story. "Anyway, I need to find Whisper, and quick. Anise, thank your parents for me, please? I'd stay longer, but…"

"Echo, wait. We're leaving the cathedral tonight with the Malkuth Military. You see that door down there?" Ion said as I started walking away. I turned and looked to where he was pointing to, then nodded.

"Yeah, why?" I replied.

"It's a library. I don't think your friend is here in Daath. If she were, word would have already arrived here. So come with us to Malkuth and start searching there," he suggested. "I'm going to go there to meet up with Colonel Curtiss tonight."

"Ion, that's not information we can just give out!" Anise cried quietly. Ion looked down at her.

"Anise, I don't think she'll tell anyone. Will you?" he said, turning to look at me. I thought about what he was suggesting. Then, once the rational, ninja-trained side of my mind decided that he was probably right, I nodded.

"Alright. Actually, I might go read for a little while right now," I told him. "I guess I'll see you two later then." Ion and Anise nodded, the former looking happy, while the latter still seemed to be suspicious of me. I headed across the bridge and, after heading down a set of stairs, I found myself in the cathedral's lobby. I walked across, heading for the library Ion had pointed out. I was planning on looking for a book about the Velis, to see what people of this time period knew about Whisper's species. The more I knew about this new time period, the better off I'd be, because I wouldn't make stupid mistakes like the one earlier.

When I walked into the library, I found myself overwhelmed and realized that I had no idea where to start.

"Good morning, miss. Can I help you with anything?" a young man said, walking over to me. He seemed to be wearing a uniform of sorts. I was about to brush him off when my previous realization crashed down on me again and prompted me to accept his aid.

"Ah, yes, actually. You wouldn't happen to have any books on the Velis in here, would you?" I asked. He looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded.

"I think there are a few. This way, please," he said. He led me to the back of the library, an area that was decidedly more dusty than the rest of the room. He pulled three almost-identical books off the shelf and dusted them off before handing them to me. They were rather large books, and therefore were quite heavy. I hadn't expected the weight, so I almost dropped them. "Please put them back once you're done with them."

I sighed as the man walked away, leaving me to navigate my way back to the front, where the tables and chairs were. I headed back and claimed a table near a window looking out on a courtyard. I was about to sit down when I thought I saw a red-haired man sitting out under the tree there. When I looked back up, however, there was no one there. I shrugged it off and opened the first of the three volumes.

The book was written in the Fonic Language, a language that was fairly new to humans back in my time, though I spoke and read it quite well, compared to some of the people in my village, since it had been a very common language among Velis. _'Back in my time… Damn, I make myself sound old,'_ I thought to myself. With a small smile, I opened the book up to the first actual page and was about to start reading when I noticed the map sitting next to me on the table. I pulled it out for a moment to glance over it, noting that a lot of names had been changed, though all of the continents still existed where they used to be. Then, putting the map to the side, I started reading.

Now, back home, I didn't read often. I preferred taking my chakrams, shuriken, smoke bombs, kunai, and other such things out and practicing with them, or cooking with my mother, or playing games with Whisper and her siblings. However, when I did start reading, no one stopped me, because while I didn't have Whisper's photographic memory, I could read really fast and retain almost everything I had read. So, of course, once I got going, I didn't even think about stopping.

Mind you, these books were really big, and I was reading over a couple of sections multiple times, so I had just started reading the third volume when a man in a blue uniform walked over. "Would you be Miss Echo?" he asked, his smooth voice snapping me out of the semi-trance I had been in. I stared at him for a moment before his words finally registered in my mind and I nodded.

"Yes. You are?" I replied, noting the page number and closing the book. He adjusted his glasses before holding out a hand.

"Colonel Jade Curtiss, Commander of the Third Division, Malkuth Imperial Forces," he told me. I shook his hand, and then part of the conversation with Ion came back to me.

"You're waiting for Anise and Ion, aren't you?" I asked him. He nodded.

"Yes. Anise warned me that you were going to be coming with us. Do us all a favor and don't get in the way," he said. I nodded and picked up the first two books.

"I'm going to go put these away," I said. He looked down at the book on the table and picked it up.

"'The Known History of the Velis.' Hmm… I don't think I've ever seen this before. Might I inquire as to why you're reading this?" he muttered, following me to the back. I bit my lip.

"I was curious. I know a lot about the Velis; I like seeing how much other people know," I told him, being totally honest without giving away the real reason why I had been reading. I placed the first two volumes up on the shelf. Jade handed me the third book, and I looked at him curiously.

"Am I not allowed to take a book out?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I wouldn't know. I don't come here often," he replied. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll ask Ion. If I can't, I'll just put it back and catch up," I told him. "Let's head back to the front."

Ion and Anise were just walking in as we came back up. "Ah, Jade, Echo. I'm glad you two are already here," Ion said. I smiled.

"I've been here since you left me this morning," I told him. He looked interested.

"Oh? Reading?" he asked. I nodded.

"Yup. 'The Known History of the Velis.' Um, by the way… Am I allowed to take a book out?" I asked. He looked thoughtful.

"Well, normally you can only borrow a book for two weeks before you have to pay late fees, although it's three weeks for some of the bigger non-fiction books. But since it's unlikely you'll make it back soon, I might be able to pull some strings for you. I take it you haven't finished that yet?" he told me. I chuckled nervously.

"Actually, I just started this one. This is part three of a three-volume set," I explained. Ion smiled.

"Alright, let's go check it out. Jade, Anise, be ready to leave as soon as we come back up here," he said, saying the last part quietly. Jade and Anise nodded, and Ion and I went to talk to the young man, who was now sitting behind a desk. After a short argument, Vol. 3 of the Known History of the Velis was checked out under my name for an indefinite amount of time. I planned on sending it back as soon as Whisper had a chance to read it. Yulia had just created the Score at the beginning of this volume, so I figured that she'd be able to catch herself up to speed on what had happened to her species since we'd left.

I was fishing around in my back pack for my weapons, which I had seen earlier, when a soldier stepped in front of us. "Halt! Grand Maestro Mohs has declared that the Fon Master is not to leave the cathedral!" he announced to us. I felt my hand wrap around something round, and, pulling it up so I could see it, I noted that it was white.

"I had hoped to avoid a conflict," I heard Jade mutter. I smirked.

"Cover your mouths," I whispered, knowing that Anise, Ion, and Jade would hear, but the soldier wouldn't. Then, without any other kind of warning, I threw the white ball at the ground in front of the soldier's feet, and it exploded into a cloud of white smoke. The four of us started running, and I finally found the shuriken pouch I had been looking for and tied it to my belt.

"Nice thinking, Echo. That smoke bomb will keep them occupied for a little while," Anise cheered. I frowned.

"It won't for long. That was a small one, we won't make it too far before they start chasing us. I was actually hoping I could find a blue one, but I can't rummage around in my bag and run at the same time," I told her. Jade looked over his shoulder.

"Why did you want to find a blue smoke bomb?" he asked. I smirked.

"The blues are my sleepers," I told him. The sound that came out of his mouth was somewhere between surprise and concern, but the noise of clanking footsteps behind us was decidedly more important. I slipped two shuriken out of my pouch and readied myself in case I had to fight.

"The Tartarus is in the water halfway between here and the bay. We can lose them if we can get to it," Jade told us. I was still carrying my bag in one hand, so I carefully put it onto my back and slowed down.

"Echo!" Ion called back to me. I drew in sixth fonons through my fon slots and focused them into my shuriken, enlarging them into chakrams.

"Go, I'll catch up. I'm gonna give these guys something to worry about for a little while!" I shouted to the other three. I didn't look back to see if they followed my orders, I just started gathering first and third fonons.

The soldiers following us came into sight as I started chanting. "O smothering darkness, envelope mine enemies… Shadowed Poison!" I cried, throwing my fonon-infused chakrams at the ground near the soldiers. I activated the fonic glyphs carved into them and summoned the chakrams back to me before taking off, not bothering to look back at my poisonous distraction. I pushed first fonons into them and they shrank down into shuriken again so I could put them away.

Sure enough, I caught up to Ion, Anise, and Jade quickly. They looked at me in shock. "That sure didn't take long," Anise commented. I smirked.

"Weren't we going somewhere?" I asked. Jade nodded and we continued on our way. Apparently, the Tartarus was a land dreadnought that had buoys that allowed it to float on water, which was how we were going to get to Malkuth. Jade led us onboard and we set sail. I watched from the deck as we left, and noted that a few of the soldiers had managed to follow us, but were too late to stop us from leaving.

"Um, Echo?" Anise's curious voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned to look at her.

"Yes?" I asked. The girl tilted her head to the side slightly.

"Um… What are you? As a fighter, I mean," she asked. "I'm a puppeteer," she added, probably as an afterthought. I crossed my arms.

"Ninja. Why?" I replied. Anise looked thoughtful.

"Huh… I thought that you couldn't be a ninja if you didn't know at least five of the Nine Ninjitsu Artes…" she said a moment later. I raised an eyebrow.

"You can't," I stated. She crossed her arms.

"But the Ninjitsu Artes have been lost for centuries. The only one that's still around is Akashic Torment, and only Fon Masters can use that one," she muttered. I sighed. Looks like I screwed something up again. Oh well, easily remedied, and I won't even have to lie. Rather, a half-truth will suffice.

"The Ninjitsu Artes were passed down through my family. I know all nine of them. In fact, I used Shadowed Poison, the fifth tier arte, to distract the soldiers following us," I told her. She looked at me, awe shining in her eyes.

"Wow… Um… Could I maybe learn a couple of those artes?" she asked. My mouth opened in confusion before her words registered and I chuckled lightly. "What's so funny?" she asked. I shook my head, still amused.

"Well, we'll see. Until I know what your fighting style is like, I'm not going to start teaching you any of the artes. I don't want to teach you something that won't work with your fighting style," I told her. She smiled at me, and I turned back around to look at all the water flowing past.

I'm not sure when Anise left, or when Ion joined me, but I do know that it was Jade asking Ion about something that brought me back to reality. I headed down to the cabin that had been designated as mine as it was getting dark and I wanted to read some more.

I ended up reading the entire third volume that night, and I learned a little about what happened after Whisper and I left. It was nearly midnight, so I headed over to the bunk and fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning, sunlight hitting my face was what woke me up. I pulled my belt on and slipped my shuriken pouch onto my right hip and tied my kunai sheaths to my left hip. I found a pocket and slipped a few smoke bombs inside before leaving the cabin. Now that I was fully armed again, I was a bit more comfortable.

I found Anise and Ion in the mess hall. Anise suggested going up to the deck and having a practice battle to keep our skills sharp. I think she just wanted an excuse to show me how she fought so I could teach her a new arte. Ion and I were both amused by her tactics, but I really did want to see this girl in action, so I accepted her offer and we headed up to the deck after breakfast was finished.

We had just arrived at what Anise said would be a perfect practice spot when Jade walked up. "Good morning. I hope you three are staying out of trouble," he greeted us. Ion smiled.

"Anise and Echo are going to practice for a little while," he told the colonel. Jade adjusted his glasses.

"That's fine, just make sure you don't hit any bystanders," Jade said. He left us then, and Ion stood off to the side where Anise thought he'd be out of the way. Then she pulled the stuffed doll off of her back and enlarged it so that rather than it riding on her back, as it had been, she was now riding on its back.

"You're a puppeteer, huh?" I muttered. "Alright, bring it!" I cried, drawing a kunai. I infused it with fifth fonons and sent it flying her way. "Pyre!"

A small explosion erupted, but Anise maneuvered her doll around it, barely. I couldn't help but smile a little as I called the kunai back to my hand and put it away, pulling out two shuriken and enlarging them to attack the old-fashioned way.

About half an hour later, I pulled out a dark gray smoke bomb and threw it on the ground, focusing on a spot on the other side of our practice area. I teleported almost automatically thanks to the fonons that had gathered around me in the smoke, and Anise was extremely disoriented. "Huh? Hey, where'd she go?"

"Alright, Anise, I think that's enough of that for now. Why don't we work on an arte?" I said, causing her to turn around sharply in surprise.

"Whoa, how'd you get over there?" she cried. I smirked.

"Ninjas can teleport, by the way," I told her, as uninterested as if I were stating the color of the sky. She hopped off of her doll and shrank it, replacing it on her back. Ion walked over to us then.

"I love your fighting style, Echo," he told me. I laughed.

"So do I," I replied. He and Anise joined me in laughing, and then I got around to teaching Anise the arte I had decided to pass unto her.

"Sounds kinda complicated," she said after I finished explaining. I scratched the back of my head.

"Well, yeah. It's the sixth tier, and most ninjas learn the artes in order from first to ninth, so I imagine it would be difficult to start from the sixth," I told her. "But you'll never learn it if you don't try it, so…" Anise nodded and stood up, pulling the doll off her back again and enlarging it. She got up onto its head and started twirling her wand, gathering fonons carefully but quickly.

"O raging spirits who would seek sanctum, gather here… Ghost Drive!" she chanted, slipping from the top of the doll to holding on as she ran into the mass of fonons that had accumulated. She didn't quite make it to them before they dissipated again, though. Anise seemed disappointed, but I was happy for her.

"If it's any consolation, most people fail to get the first part right multiple times in a row. Anyway, try focusing the fonons a little closer this time so you can get to them quickly," I suggested. She nodded and came back over to cast again. And again, she didn't quite make it to the fonons.

Third time's a charm, apparently, as she managed to reach them the third try. The fonons flocked to the doll's fists and it punched twice before spinning and jumping up with its right hand in the air. Against an enemy, that final attack would have sent it flying.

"Hmm, an impressive arte," a now-somewhat-familiar voice commented as Anise's doll landed and she shrank it. I smiled at Jade.

"Yup. So, what're you up to?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Nothing, at the moment. I had actually planned on asking if you and Anise wanted to practice against me. I could use the exercise," he replied. I crossed my arms.

"How about just you and me while we let Anise practice Ghost Drive?" I suggested. Anise smiled.

"I don't care, really," she informed me. Jade adjusted his glasses.

"Well, alright, but don't come whining to me if you can't hold me off by yourself," he said. I pulled out one of my shuriken.

"Hey, Echo? What's Ghost Drive look like when you use it?" Anise asked as Jade and I prepared to attack each other. I smirked.

"Watch and maybe you'll see," I told her. Then Jade started casting.

And let me tell you, he can cast QUICKLY! I had to dodge two artes before I even had a chance to get close to him, and my shuriken didn't even bother him. So, I decided to humor Anise and started gathering first and sixth fonons as I ran away from another Splash.

The two shuriken I had been carrying became chakrams as a fonic glyph appeared around my feet. "O raging spirits who would seek sanctum, gather here… Ghost Drive!" I chanted, running forward. Jade, who had been casting again, didn't have time to move away from the gathering fonons. I pulled them into my chakrams, throwing first the one in my right hand at him, then the one in my left hand, then catching both of them and spinning around and tossing the right-hand chakram up into the air and throwing Jade up with it.

Then I decided it was time to hightail my ass out of there. Good thing, too, since Jade landed and aimed a Sonic Spear at me, which missed by a hair. He looked a little worn now, though, something that had me smirking.

We kept at it for a little while longer before I decided to use a smoke bomb to blind Jade while I snuck behind him. When the smoke cleared, Anise and Ion got to see Jade with his left arm restrained behind his back and a kunai knife at his neck.

"Using the smoke bomb was cheating," Anise said from the sidelines, trying to take Jade's side, though the look on her face told me that she didn't actually believe what she had said. I just laughed and released the colonel I had been holding prisoner.

"All's fair in love and war," I told her, a comment that had her and Ion laughing, and Jade smiling.

"Well, I must give you one thing, Echo. You're a lot stronger than you look," Jade told me. I saw genuine respect in his eyes, and a bit of pride bloomed in my chest. I didn't like it when people feared me or my abilities because I was a ninja. More often than not, when people found out I was a ninja, they would either avoid me or they would do everything in their power not to piss me off.

"Thanks. You're pretty strong too," I replied. Jade nodded to me, then turned to Anise and Ion.

"I should head back to the bridge. I'll see you two in the morning, as we should be docking in Grand Chokmah then," he told them. Then he left, and Anise walked over.

"Hey, could you watch after Ion for me for a bit? There's something I want to talk to someone about," the girl said. I nodded, and she left, leaving just me and Ion standing there. I walked over to the railing and sat down, looking through it to the ocean.

"Echo? Um…" Ion started tentatively. I looked up at him and frowned.

"Do you fight?" I asked. He looked a little startled at the question, but then he shook his head.

"No. My body isn't very strong. I can use an offensive Daathic Fonic Arte, but it drains my strength badly," he told me, sitting down.

I stopped and thought about it. My kunai and shuriken strike artes didn't take a lot of energy or fonons, which meant that someone with a weak disposition like Ion could use them more than strike artes meant for, say, a sword. And kunai and shuriken were lightweight, easy to carry, easy to conceal, and, with practice, easy to throw, though the shuriken were dangerous if you weren't used to them. I nodded as I made up my mind.

"In that case, why don't I teach you how to use kunai and shuriken?" I suggested. Ion looked surprised, and I smiled. "Shuriken strike artes barely take any fonons, and it's the act of pulling the fonons into your body and fusing them with a weapon that exhausts your body. Less fonons means less stress. And while some kunai strike arte do require more fonons, kunai are more helpful that shuriken for defending yourself if something gets close," I expanded.

Ion sat there looking thoughtful for a while. "Echo… I think that might be a good idea. I don't want to be in the way if something happens… Just don't let Anise know about this, alright? She'd probably take it the wrong way," he finally replied. I smiled.

"Alright. I'll see if I can find an archery target or something tonight, and we'll work on it tomorrow. It's getting kinda late, and I'm hungry," I told him. Ion was positively beaming as we headed back down to the mess hall, and I had to wonder just what I had gotten myself into here.

* * *

_Winx: Hehehe… I can't help it. Whenever someone says something about teaching Ion to fight, I see him as a ninja…_

_Kairi: Well, I can imagine it. Sync practically is a ninja._

_Winx: Hehehe… Oh well… And what happened to Whisper?_

_Kairi: I'm not going to write in her POV again until after she joins the main party, which will take a while. Although there will be a rather long part written in third person POV right before and during that scene. And a little after… -drags Winx off to talk about something-_

_Whisper: She certainly has her priorities in order…_

_Echo: -sighs- Please leave a review, since apparently it's really easy… Now if you'll excuse me… -throws down a smoke bomb-_

_Whisper: -rolls eyes- Always the one for dramatic exits… -flies off on glider-_


	3. Chapter 2: Meetings

**Kairi: …new chapter…**

**Winx: …What's up with you?**

**Kairi: Scooping poop at the fair for golf… At least I talked my boyfriend into coming tonight… barely seen him all summer…**

**Winx: Ah… -turns to readers- We don't own TotA! Enjoy the chapter! –turns back to Kairi- Coffee?**

(Echo's POV)

The next morning, I was up early. I had done some asking around the night before, and now, I was heading down to the mess hall to meet up with Ion and Anise again. Ion had asked me not to tell Anise that I was going to train him, which was fine by me. But we'd be arriving in Grand Chokmah, the capital of Malkuth, in a few hours, so I wanted to at least get started.

Thankfully, it seemed that Anise wanted to talk to the colonel for a while about something, so Ion and I were left to our own devices. I lead him down to the cabins meant for holding prisoners, because I had set up our 'training ground' down there.

"Here we go," I announced, opening a door to one. There were crates stacked around all over the place. I hopped up onto one and walked over the crates until I was almost to the back. Ion followed me, looking extremely curious as to why we were back here.

"Echo, why is there a big space back here?" he asked as we jumped down into it. I smiled.

"I got to asking around last night, and it seems that these crates are used for storage of extra uniforms. They keep them in dried straw, which is helpful. And I managed to get a couple of targets the soldiers use for archery practice," I told him. "I rearranged a little, but I was told that so long as the empty crates stay in the back and the full crates stay in the front, it's fine."

Ion smiled. "Alright. Where are we starting then?" he asked. I pulled out a pair of leather gloves and handed them to him.

"Protect ze hands!" I declared. Ion laughed at the way I had said it, but put the gloves on quietly. I'm not sure where that soldier had gotten white gloves, but oh well. They matched the rest of Ion's outfit, actually.

I pulled out four of my shuriken and two kunai knives. Handing one of the shuriken to Ion, I showed him how to hold it, then how to release it in a throw, then how to actually throw it, using his arm and the shuriken he was holding the entire time.

It took him a few tries, but he managed to hit the target, and his aim improved greatly after that, proving that he was an extremely fast learner. After he managed to get all four into the target for the third time in a row, I handed him a kunai and started showing him how to carry it. It took him a little longer to figure out how to flip the knife around from its normal reverse grip so he could throw it, but after a little practice, he not only figured out how to do it, but could do it easily.

The work with throwing the shuriken had done its job well, as his first few tosses hit the target, though the knife had rotated in midair and simply bounced off. Ion looked up at me, and I asked him to throw one more, since I hadn't figured out what he was doing wrong. This time, I caught his error, and showed him what it was. Rather than simply telling him how to fix it, however, I wanted to see if he could figure it out for himself.

He did after experimenting a couple of times, and, now equipped with that knowledge, he threw the kunai again. It stuck in the outermost ring of the target, two inches above where the bulls-eye would have been, all the way to the right.

"Well, at least it stuck this time, even if I overextended a little," Ion said. I chuckled.

"You're a much more enthusiastic learner than I was. Then again, I was only five when my standard training began, and seven when my ninja training started. You're… what? Thirteen? Fourteen?" I replied. Ion nodded.

"Fourteen. Anise is thirteen," he told me. I smiled.

"I'm fifteen. And really short, I know. Whisper reminds me often," I said. Ion laughed. "So, why don't we call it a day for now?" I suggested. Ion nodded.

"Yes, we've been down here for a while now," he agreed, going over to pick up the weapons. He handed them to me quietly, and I slipped them back into their respective holders. Then he pulled off his gloves and put them into a pocket. "It'll be alright if I hold onto the gloves, won't it?" he asked, probably a little late. I shrugged.

"Try not to lose them," I told him. Then we climbed up onto the crates again and left the cabin, heading back up to the deck. We came out to see Anise and Jade talking.

"Oh, seriously. Where did those two get off to?" Anise was grumbling. I chuckled.

"I was working with my shuriken and Ion was watching," I told her, once again being totally honest without giving away the whole truth, a practice I had picked up from Whisper's people. Anise and Jade turned to look at me.

"You didn't get in the way, did you Ion?" Anise asked Ion. He shook his head.

"Nope," he told her. Jade turned his head toward me.

"We're just outside Grand Chokmah. Anise told me you were going to be looking for a friend, so I wish you luck. I hope our paths will cross again," he said before walking away. He would probably come to regret that last comment… My gaze followed him before falling upon Ion again, who looked a little crestfallen, probably because he wouldn't be able to practice with me again for a while. I smiled and made a mental note to myself to get a few shuriken to him as soon as I could find some… Though that might take a while.

The Tartarus docked in Grand Chokmah shortly afterward, and the four of us (Jade, Anise, Ion, and myself) got off. I waved goodbye to them and headed out of town for the forest nearby, wondering if monsters still picked up Gald from travelers.

Well, apparently they do, because I walked back into town that afternoon with well over ten thousand Gald. I was headed to the bar to get some food when I came across Anise and Ion again. "Oh, hello," I greeted them.

Ion smiled. "Hello, Echo," he said. Anise grinned and echoed him. "What brings you here? I'd have thought you would have returned to the inn by now."

I chuckled and scratched the back of my head. "Uh, yeah… I happen to have a really strange sleeping schedule. Besides, I just got back into town and I'm hungry," I told him. Anise looked confused.

"Just got back into town?" she wondered. I nodded.

"Yeah. I needed some Gald, so I headed out to kill some monsters and see how much I could get off of them," I explained. The look on her face said 'Oh…'

"So, are you going to be in Grand Chokmah for a little while longer then?" Ion asked. I nodded. "That's great! I'm afraid Anise and I have to wait here for a few days ourselves."

I chuckled. Then Anise looked like she'd had a great idea. "Hey, Echo? I don't mean to sound rude or anything towards Ion, but would you watch him for me tomorrow? There's some stuff I'd like to do around town, but I don't really want to drag Ion around like that and wear him down," she asked. I smiled, both at the pleading look on Anise's face and the hopeful one on Ion's.

"Alright," I agreed. Anise cheered, and Ion's smile grew wider, if that was possible. I couldn't help but chuckle a little at the two of them. "So, meet me here tomorrow morning?" I asked. They both nodded, and I continued on my way to get my food.

I guess I made it back to the inn and booked a room, because I woke up in the inn the next morning. I pulled on my things and headed downstairs, then stopped by the shopping center which was just opening up. On the upper floor was a tailor, and the two of us had a conversation. It wasn't that I didn't like the dress I was wearing. I did, it was simple and it was black. But I preferred shorts, especially when I was fighting.

About half an hour later after negotiating an outfit and a price and down to only a few hundred Gald, I left the shopping center to meet Ion. I'd have to pick up the outfit the next morning and pay the other half of the fee, but I wasn't too worried about it right now.

Anise and Ion were waiting for me when I arrived. It was still fairly early in the morning, but it looked like they were both well awake and happy to see me. I smiled and waved at them, and they ran over to me before I could reach them.

"Hey, Echo!" they chorused. I couldn't help but laugh a little at their antics. Sure, I wasn't that much older than them… technically… but I felt like I was an adult for a moment. Then again, all things considered, I was… inside the ninja community… not that there was one anymore.

"Hey, you two," I greeted them. "Ion, have you had breakfast already?" I asked. He and Anise both nodded. "Good."

"Don't let Ion get hurt, and don't let him use any Daathic Fonic Artes, okay?" Anise said. I nodded, and she smiled. "Alright. Ion, be back at the palace by eight, and don't overexert yourself. I'll see you tonight!" Anise called back as she ran off. I smiled at Ion.

"So… Feel like a little target practice?" I asked him once Anise was out of hearing range. Ion smiled and nodded, and we headed out of the city. I had seen a couple of soldiers practicing their archery the day before, and I was hoping that they had an extra target we could borrow.

Luckily, they did, and once I told them why I wanted to borrow it, they handed it over happily and Ion and I found a little grove of trees not too far away. There was a nice little wall of a miniature cliff there too, so we set the target up against the cliff. Ion had pulled on his gloves while I had set the target up, and I handed over four of my shuriken and two kunai knives again.

About an hour later, I heard a buzzing sound, and turned to find a giant bee heading our way. Ion adjusted his grip on the shuriken in his hand and tossed it, not at the target, but at the bee. It missed by little more than an inch, but I called it back and handed it to him again before pulling out two more shuriken, ready to enlarge them into my chakrams if necessary.

Ion's second shot was more accurate, and hit the bee, getting its attention. I handed Ion one of the shuriken in my hand and called the one he had thrown back as he threw it too. This time, when the fonic glyph activated, it simply returned to my pouch, because I was leaping forward with my chakrams to kill the bee.

I walked back over to Ion after collecting the Gald the bee had dropped and smiled. "You've gotten pretty good with those shuriken. I don't think practicing with a stationary target will do you any more good at this point, not when we've only got the one," I told him. He smiled.

"Thanks," he said. I looked at the three shuriken that were stuck in the target with two kunai knives.

"Ion, here," I said, handing him a fourth shuriken. "You see the glyph on the inside here?" I pointed to the glyph in question, and he nodded. "Alright. There's one of these glyphs on each of the shuriken. Focus third fonons on one of the shuriken over there."

He turned away from me and concentrated on one of the shuriken. A few moments later, it disappeared with a small flash and reappeared near his hand. It dropped to the ground though, because he hadn't been expecting it to appear. "Um, I should probably try to grab it this time, shouldn't I?" he asked after picking the first shuriken up. I nodded and he tried again. It took much less time because he had figured out how to do it, but when he tried to grab the shuriken, it slipped out of his hand.

"Here, Ion," I said, getting his attention. "When you're focusing the third fonons into the shuriken, you're calling it back to you. A lot of archers' arrows have fonic glyphs on them that automatically return the arrows to their quiver. It's the same basic principal, except that you're calling these back to your hand. Hold your hand out in front of you and watch where the shuriken appears in relation to your hand," I instructed. A memory worked its way to the forefront of my mind just then.

_My father stood over me, an almost stern look on his face. I had dropped my shuriken for the fourth time after trying to call it back._

"_I'm trying, Papa," I told him. He shook his head and sighed._

"_It's the same principal as what brings Whisper's arrows back to her sheath. When you focus third fonons into the glyphs of your shuriken, you call them back to you or to your shuriken case. Now, try again," he instructed. I threw two more shuriken so I'd have some to call back. I focused the third fonons…_

_And dropped my shuriken again after fumbling with it. My father sighed again. "Echo, try holding your hand out in front of you so you can watch where the shuriken appears this time. You might get an idea of what you're doing wrong," he suggested._

I smiled fondly at the memory as Ion called the third and final shuriken back to himself. It appeared almost right between his fingers, and he grabbed it quickly, managing to keep his hold on it this time. Then he threw the four shuriken again and started calling them back. He dropped a couple, but more often than not, he caught them.

It was approaching noon when we finally gave the target back to the soldier who had let us borrow it and headed further into the forest. Ion stayed back and threw shuriken and kunai, which he could call back using the same technique as with the shuriken, while I kept the monsters away from him.

Six hours later and both of us utterly exhausted, we headed back to Grand Chokmah. I sighed and looked down at Ion, who, despite being worn out from all the fighting, seemed really happy. "So, dinner and then split the spoils?" I asked, a smile creeping onto my own face. Ion looked at me and shook his head.

"No, you keep everything. Besides, if Anise finds out what we were doing, she'd have your head," he replied. I snorted.

"As if she could catch me," I muttered, a comment that got both of us laughing. "Hey, you think she'd let me borrow you for another day or not?" I asked. Ion frowned.

"I don't know. It depends on a few things, really. But why don't we meet up on the bridge in the morning anyway?" he said. I shrugged.

"Whatever. Now let's eat!" I said. Ion started laughing again as he pulled his gloves off and put them into his pocket again. They weren't pristine white anymore, but that was to be expected after all of the work we'd been doing.

We walked into the bar, got our food, and headed upstairs to find an open table. Ion and I had just sat down when Anise and Jade walked over. "Ah, hello. Didn't expect to see you again," I said, nodding to Jade. He smiled and nodded.

"Yes, Anise told me you were taking care of Ion for her. By the way, where have you two been? Anise and I were looking for you earlier," he said. I swallowed the bit of curry I had managed to put in my mouth.

"Ion and I headed out into the forest so I could work with my shuriken again. Obviously, I didn't let Ion get hurt," I told them. Ion raised an eyebrow at me while the other two weren't looking his way, probably wondering how I could be totally honest without telling the whole truth.

"You two didn't have any trouble at all?" Anise asked. I shook my head.

"None…" I told her. Then sighed, thinking of a few instances where Ion had almost gotten hit. "Well, none that I couldn't handle on my own in a few seconds," I amended my statement. Jade adjusted his glasses.

"I'm just glad you took care of Ion. By the way, is that curry?" he said. I nodded and took another bite of the rapidly-cooling dish. Jade and Anise headed down the stairs and returned moments later with their own food. Anise had some kind of meat with potatoes and gravy, and Jade had… curry.

Well, judging by the way he was eating it, he really liked it. I filed that away in the 'Strange Facts I Probably Don't Need to Know About People' part of my brain.

Ion and Anise left with Jade, leaving me to leave the bar and eventually return to my room and count up my spoils. I was pleased to see that I had more than enough to finish paying for my new clothes. I decided to try to go to sleep a little earlier than I usually did that night.

I woke up earlier than usual, so, after dressing and running my fingers through my hair while making a mental note to buy a brush, I headed out and wandered around town, simply looking around. I had asked around the night before about Whisper, and I was fairly certain now that she wasn't here. Someone would have seen her by now.

The sun had just peaked over the horizon when I found myself standing on the bridge Ion, Anise and I had met up on twice in the last couple of days. I was looking over the edge at the flowing water when a soldier walked up to me. His uniform was different from the normal one, so I figured that he was a higher-ranking officer, like Jade. His white hair and tanned skin made me believe him to be a Velis for a moment.

"Are you Echo?" he asked. I nodded, and he handed me a letter. "Fon Master Ion had to leave this morning, and he asked me to make sure this was delivered to you. He told me you'd be waiting here, so I figured I'd drop it off myself since I was headed this way," he explained. I sighed, and then his words hit me again.

'_Whoa, wait. Fon Master? Ion?'_ I thought. Then I remembered that the soldier who had stopped us in Daath had mentioned the Fon Master… So then Anise must be a Fon Master Guard. No wonder she was always so protective of Ion. "Um, thanks…" I said, a bit of uncertainty still finding its way into my voice.

"Brigadier General Aslan Frings," he said, apparently believing that the uncertainty was born of my not knowing his name. Though the information was welcome.

"Well, I'm Echo, but you knew that already," I replied with a smile. Aslan chuckled and shook his head, then walked away. I headed to the shopping center to pick up my new clothes then. The tailor was happy enough to see me, and, after paying the second half of the money I owed him for them, I took the clothes and headed back to the inn.

I changed quickly and quietly, then packed up my things. If neither Whisper nor Ion was here, then I had no reason to stay. The letter Ion had had delivered to me had been temporarily left unopened, however, so, before I left the room, I pulled it out and read it.

Smiling happily as I finished reading the letter, I put it away and left, informing the desk clerk that I wouldn't be staying any longer on my way out of the inn. Then I headed out through the forest. A couple of the soldiers who recognized me from the day before waved, and I waved back.

I was barely out of the forest when I thought I saw an abnormally large shadow pass over the ground. Well, abnormally large for a bird. But then again, some flying monsters are quite large, so I brushed it off. It was obvious that technology had taken a turn for the worse over the years. Much worse, apparently. So that shadow would have had to be a monster or a bird. Or a monster chasing a bird because the bird stole its lunch, or because the bird WAS its lunch, for all I know.

That was the point where Whisper's voice in my head told me to stop thinking and get moving, and I agreed wholeheartedly.

I stopped on the side of the road that night and made camp, thankful that I had thought to pick up food a couple nights previously. I was up early the next morning, and, after a quick breakfast involving eggs and cheese, I continued on down the road. While, for the most part, technology had taken a drastic fall, a few things had been made that would have been handy two thousand years ago.

Like wing packs. They were small and could hold anything and everything, and they could even keep food cold. Which was a big positive. And they were pretty cheap, too, since a lot of travelers used them. I had bought one the previous morning on my way to get my new clothes, and now I was happy that I had. It would make things a lot easier, because I could store all of my extra smoke bombs and items in it.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I was surprised to hear gunshots. I saw a coach heading my way and ran to the side, away from the road. There was another coach coming from the other direction, so I grabbed a hold of it and held on.

"Hey, no free rides!" the man driving the coach yelled at me. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll pay you later. This coach moves faster than my legs do and I don't want to get run over," I told him. A red-haired boy stuck his head out of the window and looked at me, but my attention was on the landship that was speeding past. "Is that the Tartarus?" I wondered out loud. The coach the landship was chasing crossed the bridge and dropped it, and the landship stopped and activated a fonic barrier.

The landship rode off a while later and the coachman pulled over and stopped so I could hop off. "Wow… That was Malkuth's newest land dreadnought, the Tartarus," the coachman said, watching the landship ride away. The redhead and brunette in the coach looked shocked.

"Malkuth?! What's the Malkuth military doing around here?" the redhead cried. I raised an eyebrow, and the coachman seemed just as skeptical.

"What do you mean? Of course they're here. There's been no end to the talk that Kimlasca's going to start a war any day now. They've tightened security in this area," he said.

The woman, who, now that I thought about it, looked an awful lot like Yulia, said, "…Wait a minute. This isn't Kimlasca?" I shook my head.

"Nope. We're in the Malkuth Empire. West Rugnica Plains, if I'm not too lost," I told her cheerfully, hoping that the continent names hadn't changed, since I hadn't gotten a good look at the map in Daath. From the reactions, or lack thereof, of the people around me, I figured they hadn't.

The redhead was obviously in a bad mood now, because he stood up. "Hang on, I thought this coach was headed for the capital, Baticul!" he yelled. The coachman shook his head.

"No, Grand Chokmah—capital of Malkuth and home to His Imperial Majesty, Peony the Ninth," he replied. The woman crossed her arms.

"…Hmmm, I was mistaken," she muttered. The redhead's glare was directed to her.

"How can you be so calm about it?! How could you make a mistake like that?!" he cried, sitting down and crossing his arms. The woman rounded on him, irritation finally showing through the cool mask she had had in place.

"I didn't recognize the area. What's your excuse?" she snapped. The redhead turned his head toward her with a scowl.

"I've been confined to the manor. I've never been outside. How the hell should I have known?" he grumbled back. The coachman looked extremely suspicious now.

"…You're sure acting strange. Are you two Kimlascan?" he asked.

"N-no. We're from Malkuth. We have business in Baticul. We were on our way there," the woman lied. I can tell because her sentences are short and clipped, and she stuttered on the first word. I wasn't going to call out her lie though. I spotted the redhead muttering something.

"That's the other direction, then. If you're going to Kimlasca, you should've taken the road south, rather than crossing the bridge. Mind you, with that bridge out, you can't go back now…" the coachman told them.

"Are you serious? NOW what do we do?" the redhead whined. I rolled my eyes.

"We're passing through Engeve to the east on the way to Grand Chokmah. What do you two want to do?" the coachman asked.

"If we go all the way to Grand Chokmah, we'll just wind up farther away. Let's stop in Engeve and think about how to get back to Kimlasca," the woman suggested. The boy sighed.

"Take us to Engeve then. I don't like walking," he grumbled. I sighed, bringing the coachman's attention back to me.

"What are you going to do?" he asked. "You look like an honest young woman, and you really would have been run over by the Tartarus if you hadn't jumped on, so I'll let you off on paying," he told me. I smiled.

"Thanks, but, how much would a ride to Engeve cost?" I asked. He looked thoughtful.

"Chesedonia to Engeve is usually an eight thousand Gald fee, but we're about two-thirds of the way…" he mumbled.

"Fifty-eight hundred then?" I said, having done the mental math a little faster than the coachman. He thought for another moment and then nodded.

"Sounds fair to me," he told me. I handed over the Gald and got into the coach, sitting across from the woman. Her companion sulked all the way to Engeve, but personally, I was just happy to be here. I had seen the Tartarus sitting a ways outside of town, so I was hoping that I could find Ion, Anise, or Jade and say 'hello.' The woman, who had introduced herself as Tear, and her companion, Luke, parted ways with me as soon as we were in Engeve.

I was walking around when I spotted a familiar head of green hair, but when I tried to run over to Ion, someone walked right into my way, and I slammed into him, knocking him and the crate of apples he was carrying to the ground. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" I cried, picking up apples quickly so they wouldn't roll away. The man was doing the same, and we put them into the crate as we picked them up.

"Well, watch out where you're going, if you would please," he said. Then he held out a hand to me. "Thanks, though. Most visitors would have just apologized and walked away."

I shook his hand. "You're welcome. Um, now if you'll excuse me, I thought I saw someone, so I'd best get going or I'm never going to find him," I told the man. He smiled and nodded, then picked up his crate of apples and walked away. I ran toward where I had seen Ion, but he was long gone.

I was contemplating where the best place to look for him would be when what appeared to be an angry mob walked past, dragging the redhead from the coach, Luke, to a house in the center of town. I couldn't help but stare after the group, wondering what had caused the miniature riot and where Tear was.

"Oh, you're the girl from the coach earlier," a semi-familiar voice said. I turned and wasn't surprised to see Tear standing behind me.

"Um, do I want to know?" I asked, pointing to the men kicking Luke into a house as we walked over. Tear sighed and put a hand to her forehead.

"Luke took a bite out of an apple before paying earlier and now the townspeople think he's the thief who's been stealing all of the food recently," she explained. I rolled my eyes as we stepped into the room.

"I'm telling you people, I'm not your damn thief! Do I look like I'm going hungry to you?!" Luke yelled, knocking one of the men's hands away. The red-haired woman, whom I assumed to be the mayor, walked over to them.

"My, my, what a lively boy. Let's all just settle down first, all right?" she suggested.

"Yes, please do," a familiar voice added. I looked past Luke for the first time and smiled, then managed to push my way past the townspeople.

"Hello for the umpteenth time this week," I greeted Jade. He looked down at me in surprise.

"And what might you be doing here?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Oh, traveling… Avoiding being run over by landships… By the way, these two were in the coach from earlier. They're not with the Dark Wings, obviously, since you chased them across Rotelro Bridge. They're just trying to get to Kimlasca on business," I told him. He raised his eyebrow at the part about the landships, but then he look up at Luke again.

"Who the hell are you, anyway?" Luke grumbled to the man in front of me. Jade adjusted his glasses.

"I'm Colonel Jade Curtiss, Third Division, Malkuth Imperial Forces. And who might you be?" he replied. Luke pointed to himself with his thumb.

"Luke. Luke fon—"

"Luke!" Tear cried, grabbing the redhead and pulling him away. She whispered something to him, and then turned back to us. "My apologies, Colonel. He's Luke. I'm Tear. We were headed to Chesedonia, but we boarded the wrong coach and wound up here," she told Jade. He nodded, but the mayor simply looked baffled.

"What is all this about, Colonel?" she asked. Jade turned to her.

"Just as Echo said, a group of bandits believed to be the Dark Wings fled toward Kimlasca. We can assure you that these two are not with them," he said.

"They don't appear to be mere food thieves, either," a welcome addition to the conversation said. I turned and smiled at Ion as he walked in. "I was a bit curious, so I investigated the food storehouse. I found this in a corner of the room," he said, handing something to the mayor.

"This is fur from a sacred cheagle!" she cried. Ion nodded sadly.

"Yes. A cheagle is what probably raided your food stores," he replied. Luke turned on the men who had brought him in.

"See! I told you I wasn't a thief!" he grumbled. Tear sighed.

"But you did eat that apple before paying. You need to learn not to do things that'll make you look suspicious," she said.

"How was I supposed to know? I didn't know I had to pay," Luke shot back. I rolled my eyes. Yeah, that boy was definitely the sheltered son of an aristocrat.

"Well, sounds like that takes care of that. I think you all have something to say to this boy and his friend?" the mayor said. One by one, each of the townspeople apologized. "Do you think you can forgive them, boy?" she asked Luke.

"I'm not a boy," he grumbled. I raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, doesn't that make you a girl then?" I couldn't help but ask. I heard Jade make a coughing sound behind me, though whether it was because he was choking or trying not to laugh, I'm not sure. Luke was obviously too busy trying to regain his mental footing after that comment to notice.

"Now, now, that's enough. Luke, could we let bygones be bygones?" the mayor tried again. Luke scowled.

"Whatever," he muttered, still extremely red in the face.

"Glad to hear it. Now, I have business with the colonel. I'll think of a way to stop the cheagles, so all of you just go on home for today," the mayor said. The townspeople filtered out, followed by Luke and Tear. I was about to follow them when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned back to see Ion holding me back and looking up at Jade.

"Jade, do you mind if we let Echo help? I have a feeling that we're going to keep running across each other," he asked. Jade sighed and adjusted his glasses.

"Well, I don't see why not. You two get along rather well, it seems, and Anise doesn't mind her. Speaking of which, where is she?" he replied. Ion shrugged.

"I'm not sure. We got split up a while ago," the boy said. Jade sighed.

"Oh well. I suppose we should fill Echo in on what we're doing then, shouldn't we?" he muttered. Then he, Ion, and the mayor, who I learned was named Rose, started explaining. Anise came in about halfway through and told Ion that there were rumors about him going missing, but then she helped the three of them explain.

"Wow. You're trying to stop a war from breaking out," I muttered once they were done. "Hard work. Dangerous work, if there's someone working against you…" Jade looked uncomfortable. Probably because he knew that if I chose not to help, he wouldn't be able to stop me from leaving. He didn't have to worry about that though, as I'd already made up my mind. So, deciding to alleviate their fears a little, I delivered the verdict.

"Okay. I'll help, however much I can."

**Winx: Oh… My… Gods! When is Whisper coming back?!**

**Kairi: -whispers something in Winx's ear-**

**Winx: Oohhh… Okay! –skips off while humming a lively tune-**

**Kairi: Finally, she's gone… And while I would love to just skip a chapter so I can just write a little 3rd person POV and get Whisper back… Coming up, the Cheagle Woods!... Oh effing gods no… Anyway, please don't forget to review! (We might post the next chapter early if we get a bunch…)**


	4. Chapter 3: Through the Woods

**Kairi: We're…**

**Winx: …BACK!**

**Kairi: Screaming wasn't necessary.**

**Winx: I don't care! We don't own! READ!**

**Kairi: -sighs- Who gave you sugar? -looks over chapter- Gods, I am so SICK of the Cheagle Woods...**

* * *

(Echo's POV)

I woke up the next morning on board the Tartarus and stretched, then rolled over and promptly fell out of the bunk. I growled, as this was the second time I had woken in this way in a week. Then I stood up and got my act together. Anise ran in as I was slipping my wing pack into my bag.

"Echo, help! Ion ran off this morning," she cried. I sighed.

"Alright, alright, I'll go looking… Now shoo," I told her, still not completely awake. I headed out into the hallway and then left the Tartarus. I figured that Anise had already checked it completely, so the green-haired Fon Master had to be in Engeve or near it.

Then the conversation about the cheagles from the previous day found its way into my mind, and I sighed, remembering the look that had been written across Ion's face.

"Huh? Hey, you're still here?" a familiar voice asked. I turned and saw Luke and Tear walking up to me. I nodded.

"Yes… I'm looking for Ion. He ran off this morning… Actually, you two wouldn't happen to know where the cheagles' home is, would you?" I replied. Tear crossed her arms.

"Their forest is north of this village. We're going there right now. Luke wanted to clear something up," she told me. I smiled.

"Well then, why don't we all go together?" I asked. She nodded.

"Alright," she agreed. Luke didn't look too happy though.

"Wait, what?" he whined. Tear and I rolled our eyes.

"Come on, whiny," I grumbled at him before grabbing his arm and dragging him out of town, then pointing north. "That way," I said. Luke knocked my hand away and glared at me.

"Forget it! I'm not going anywhere with you until you apologize for what you said yesterday!" he told me. I smirked, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"Why should I apologize? You set yourself up for that one," I countered, only the slightest teasing tone in my voice. Tear looked a little exasperated. And Luke, it seemed, was having trouble coming up with a good comeback. "Come on, we're wasting daylight… and Tear's patience, from the looks of it," I told him, happily skipping away toward the forest.

Luke scowled and followed me, and Tear… well, Tear looked like she was trying to figure out what to do with me. That would take her a while; Whisper still hadn't figured it out yet.

We found the forest pretty easily, but we had just stepped in when we saw a small pack of monsters.

"Hey, isn't that Ion?" Luke asked as my eyes fell on the pale shape in the middle of the monsters. I pulled out my shuriken quickly, but Ion beat me to it. An all-too-familiar silver-white-violet glyph appeared around him and the wolves, and the next thing we knew, white light shot up from it and killed all of the wolves. Ion tried to stand then but lost his balance and fell.

I was at his side in moments, and Tear and Luke followed me quickly. "Hey, are you okay?" I heard Luke ask. Ion looked up and nodded.

"I-I'm fine. I just used too strong a Daathic Fonic Arte… Hello Echo… Oh, you're the two from Engeve yesterday," he said as I helped him to his feet.

"I'm Luke," the redhead said. Ion turned to look at him.

"Luke… that means 'light of the sacred flame' in ancient Ispanian. That's nice name," Ion said. I rolled my eyes. _'His name may mean light, but he's really not all that bright,'_ I thought to myself.

"I'm Locrian Sergeant Tear Grants, 1st Platoon, Oracle Knights Intelligence Division, under Grand Maestro Mohs' command," Tear introduced herself. Ion smiled.

"Ah, you're Van's younger sister. I've heard of you, but this is the first time we've met, isn't it?" Ion asked. Luke, however looked shocked.

"You're Master Van's sister?! Then what was with you trying to kill him?!" he asked. I raised an eyebrow, and Ion echoed my thoughts.

"Kill him…?"

Tear bit her lip. "Sorry, it's nothing, just something between us," she said. It seemed that Luke wasn't going to let it go though.

"Don't try to avoid the question! If you're his sister, why are you trying to kill him?" he repeated. Tear was extremely flustered, and started stuttering. Then I spotted a yellow ball of fur.

"Hey, isn't that a cheagle?" I asked, pointing to it and saving Tear from Luke.

"So they do live here! Come on, we're gonna catch that thing!" he decided, running off. Ion turned to Tear though.

"Would it be best if I don't inquire about you and Van?" he asked. Tear sighed.

"I'm sorry. It relates to my homeland. I'd prefer not to get you, Luke, or Echo involved…" she told him. I shrugged and opened my mouth to say something, but Luke beat me to it.

"Hey! It's gonna get away!" he yelled from up ahead. I rolled my eyes and headed after him.

"You know, if there are any more nearby, they'll all be heading back to their home tree now after all of that yelling of yours," I told him. He scowled at me.

"Shut up!" he ordered. I smirked.

"You're not my boss," I told him as Tear and Ion walked up to us.

"Please tell me you two aren't going to be arguing the entire way," Tear muttered. I shrugged, then followed Ion, who had already started walking ahead. I actually wanted to get him alone for a minute to talk about something, but with Luke's impatience and Tear not wanting the group too split up, I had a feeling that I wouldn't be getting any chances any time soon.

The first group of monsters that attacked us consisted of two large birds and three floating snails. I drew four shuriken and took up a defensive stance for a moment before running forward. Two fifth fonon-infused shuriken went flying toward a snail, ripping through it cleanly and killing it. I raised an eyebrow and sighed when I realized just how much stronger I was compared to these monsters.

I wiped out the three snails in moments while Luke and Tear finished a bird each. I slipped my shuriken back into their pouch. "That was boring," I stated. Tear looked over at me in surprise.

"Those weapons… Those were shuriken, weren't they?" she asked. I nodded. "But… I thought only ninjas carried those… and…"

"The Ninjitsu Artes were passed down through my family. I'm the last ninja," I told her. "Although I'm planning on abandoning family tradition and passing on the artes to others," I added. Luke looked utterly baffled, however.

"Wait, Ninjitsu artes?" he asked. Tear put a hand to her forehead.

"I'll explain later. Let's go find those cheagles," she said, as if feeling that Luke and I would start 'arguing' again if she didn't push us back on track.

We started walking again, and for a while, everything was quiet. A few monsters attacked, but usually no more than a few, and, aside from Luke being competitive, the others were happy enough to let me kill them. I think after a while they decided to stay away from us.

Then, finally, Luke got fed up with walking and growled. "You see, it got away! Could you three be any slower?!" he grumbled to us. I shrugged.

"I could, but I don't feel like it," I replied. Tear sighed.

"Don't worry. Their nesting ground should be up ahead," Ion said. Luke's irritation faded a little.

"How do you know?" he asked. Ion bit his lip.

"Oh, um… Actually, I was curious about the thefts in Engeve, and did a little looking. Cheagles are intelligent and peaceful creatures. It's not like them to steal food," he explained. Luke huffed.

"Looks like we're headed to the same place then," he muttered. Ion looked from him to Tear.

"The two of you came here to investigate the cheagles too?" he asked. Luke crossed his arms.

"I'm not just gonna let people accuse me of things I didn't do. And you're coming with us," he said. "Unless Echo decides to take you back to Engeve," he added a moment later. I shook my head.

"Really, you two don't mind?" Ion asked.

"How can you think of taking Fon Master Ion somewhere so dangerous?" Tear asked, a little incredulous. I sighed.

"I could take him back to Engeve, but if there's something I've learned about Ion in the short time I've known him, it's that once he's put his mind to something, he'll see it through to the end. He'd probably try to sneak off again, and I'd rather he not try to come back through this forest on his own," I told her.

"I'm sorry, I just have to know. Cheagles are the sacred beasts of our order, after all," Ion said. Luke nodded.

"See? Besides, he looks really pale. If he collapses and one of us has to carry him, at least then we'll still be able to defend him," he said. I crossed my arms.

"Oh, thank you so much! You're such a nice person Luke!" Ion cried. Luke's face flushed red.

"N-no I'm not! Now quit saying stupid stuff and let's go!" he said quickly. Ion agreed happily. Luke turned to start walking again, but stopped and turned back. "And don't use that weird arte again. You damn near passed out. We'll take care of the fighting," he added.

"You're gonna protect me? Sir Luke, I'm so moved," Ion said. I copied Tear's action from earlier, pressing a hand to my forehead.

"Th-that's not what I meant! You'll just be in the way. Don't get all worked up over it. And it's just 'Luke,' got it? Now let's go!" I head Luke stutter out. Ion agreed happily and followed the redhead while I turned to Tear.

"Talk about easily flustered," I muttered. She sighed.

"Well, it's nice to know that you're at least somewhat sane," she said. I laughed.

"I have my moments," I told her, skipping ahead to join the boys. She followed quickly, though jogging rather than skipping as I had. We hadn't been walking long before a small, pink, bunny-like monster walked out of the bushes in front of us.

"Mieu, mieu mieu mieu, mieu!" it cried upon seeing us. I knelt and smiled at it.

"So that's a cheagle?" Luke asked. I nodded.

"It looks like it's still a child," Ion observed. Tear's face was lit up as she carefully walked closer. She didn't get far before it ran off with a squeal, causing her face to turn a light shade of pink.

"Hey, it ran away!" Luke grumbled. I stood up.

"Well, it is a wild animal, after all," I told him. Then I looked up at the big tree nearby. "This is probably the cheagles' nesting area," I added.

"I do hope we can find some proof they stole food from the village," Ion said. Luke scoffed.

"Those stupid things probably left proof all over the place," he said. I rolled my eyes.

"Apparently you weren't paying attention when Ion said that cheagles are peaceful and _intelligent_ creatures," I told him. He looked like he was about to say something in response, but Ion got between us.

"Why don't we explore a little?" he suggested. I smiled and nodded, then followed Tear as she made her way closer to the tree. I spotted the red lying on the ground as we approached what appeared to be an opening in the tree's trunk.

"Hey, isn't this the mark of Engeve?" I asked Ion, picking up one of the apples and showing it to him. He nodded.

"So these guys did do it!" Luke said. Tear looked at the opening in the tree trunk nearby.

"I think I hear something inside this tree," she said. I nodded.

"Yes. Cheagles live inside tree trunks. The tribe is probably inside," I told her. Ion nodded and headed in.

"Fon Master! That's too dangerous!" Tear cried, following him. I sighed.

"This kid is hopeless," Luke muttered as he and I followed to two of them.

"You're hopeless," I informed him. "Besides, cheagles are _peaceful_ and intelligent creatures. I doubt they'd harm Ion," I added once Tear was within hearing range again.

When we entered the tree, our eyes were assaulted by a mass amount of color. Cheagles of all colors and sized stood in front of us, barring the way. "Please, let me through," Ion requested. One of the cheagles in front started mewing.

"Like the monsters are gonna understand you," Luke scoffed.

"The Order's founder Yulia Jue made a pact with the cheagles and gained their aid… or so I've been told," Ion told him. From the back, another cheagle started mewing.

As the cheagles barring the way parted to let us through, the cheagle in the back spoke. "Are you of relation to Yulia Jue?" it asked.

"Whoa, that monster talked!" Luke cried in surprise.

"It is the power of the ring we were given as part of our pact Yulia. Are you of relation to Yulia?" it asked again. Ion stepped forward.

"Yes, I'm Ion, Fon Master of the Order of Lorelei. Am I correct in assuming that you're the cheagle elder?" he replied. The cheagle nodded.

"Indeed I am," it replied. Luke stepped forward to stand at Ion's right side, while I moved to Ion's left.

"Hey, monster. You guys stole food from Engeve, right?" the redhead asked. I rolled my eyes.

"I see now. So you've come to exterminate us," the elder said.

"Humph. So you don't deny it," Luke grumbled. I frowned.

"Aren't cheagles herbivores? Why would you be stealing human food?" I asked.

"To preserve the cheagle tribe," the elder answered. Tear and I exchanged looks.

"It doesn't look like you lack food," she said after a moment. "There's plenty of vegetation in this forest." The elder looked depressed, honestly.

"One of our members caused a fire in the Northern region," it explained. "As a result, the liger pack that lived there moved down to this forest, in order to prey on us. If they aren't sent food periodically, we cheagles are captured and eaten."

"That's horrible," Ion mumbled.

"And totally not our problem. If you're weak, you're food. That's how it works. Besides, I'd be mad too if you torched my land," Luke said. I couldn't help it, I smacked the back of his head. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"That was for the attitude. And while that may be true, this is hardly a normal food chain," I told him, crossing my arms. Tear sighed.

"Luke, we've confirmed that the thieves are cheagles. What do you want to do now?" she asked. Luke scowled.

"What else? We're gonna drag these guys down to Engeve and-" he started.

"But if we do that, the ligers will likely attack Engeve next in search of food," Tear interrupted him.

"I don't care what happens to that stupid village," Luke told her, earning another smack upside the head from me. "Hey!"

"That's not acceptable! Engeve is a farming community. Food from that village is probably shipped throughout the world, not just the Malkuth Empire," I told him. He stared at me, probably shocked at exactly how much venom had slipped into my voice.

"Why don't we try to negotiate with the ligers?" Ion suggested.

"With monsters?" Tear muttered. Luke turned to the green-haired boy.

"Can those liger things talk too?" he asked. Ion frowned.

"We can't talk to them directly…" he started, turning back to the cheagle elder. "But could we take one of the cheagles with us as a translator?" he asked. The elder nodded and came forward.

"I shall lend this Sorcerer's Ring to the one who shall be your interpreter," he informed us before mewing. A small cheagle bounced forward, it's fur a shade of light blue.

"What the-?" Luke cried. I rested one arm across my chest and propped the other elbow against my wrist.

"This child is the ones who caused the fire in the North. I want you to take him with you," the elder explained. The elder then turned to the child and raised the Sorcerer's Ring, apparently intending to slip it over the child's head. It bounced off of the smaller cheagle's ears and knocked both small animals onto their backs. Another cheagle, this one a light gray-silver with a black crescent-moon shape on its forehead, meiued a few times, gesturing from the child to the ring on the ground.

The larger child stepped into the ring and pulled it up around his belly. "My name's Mieu. Pleased to meet you," it said. The other cheagle turned to us.

"And my name is Varian. I will be accompanying you as well," it… no, _she_ told us. Varian was definitely female, and I was thinking that Mieu was male.

"Something about these things is really annoying…" Luke muttered. Mieu immediately started apologizing, and Luke got annoyed. "Argh! You're gonna drive me nuts! I should just roast you and eat you right now!" he grumbled at the male cheagle. Tear, Varian and I sighed.

"Hey, do you guys mind if I go on ahead?" I asked. Tear frowned.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," she said.

"Echo can take care of herself against the monsters, and you and I can protect Ion fine. I don't see why she can't," Luke argued, probably just trying to get rid of me. Tear sighed.

"Well, alright. But be careful, alright Echo?" she said. I nodded and walked off, exiting the tree and leaving Luke, Tear, Ion, and the two cheagles behind. Then I hopped up into the big tree's branches and pulled out a gray smoke bomb, focusing on my cabin on the Tartarus before throwing the bomb to the ground.

Once the fonons dissipated, I opened my eyes and raised an eyebrow at Jade, who looked sufficiently startled. "Do I want to know?" I asked. He sighed.

"I came in here to ask if you'd seen Ion, but you weren't here. I was just about to leave when you teleported in," he explained. I crossed my arms.

"About that… Come on. Ion got himself wrapped up in something, and I'm worried. From what I know about ligers, his little negotiation attempt isn't going to end well," I told Jade, already on the move. He followed me quickly, his long stride easily keeping up with my shorter but fast-paced one.

"I think you'd best explain the entire thing to me," he suggested. I nodded and started talking, explaining everything from finding Ion to agreeing to negotiate with the ligers. By the time I finished, we were walking through the forest. Anise had caught up about halfway through the explanation, though she was having trouble keeping up to the two of us. Once I was finished talking, the two of us set off running.

I spotted the river before I even realized that there was a tree crossing it. I had already pulled out a 'port-bomb, and I ended up a few hundred yards ahead of Jade. I saw the tree when I hit the second river and used it this time, running across and then jumping over a distinctly cat-like monster. _'Some sub-species of liger,'_ I realized, running into a hole that led underground.

"Dammit! It's not dying!" I heard Luke curse.

"It's too strong," Tear commented. Luke turned on her for a moment.

"So- so… Do something!" he yelled. I was already collecting first and sixth fonons.

"Why don't you let me?" I suggested, a fonic glyph glowing around my feet. "O raging spirits who would seek sanctum, gather here… Ghost Drive!" I chanted, attacking the liger queen and putting my full strength behind it, not holding back even a little like I had with Jade.

"Want some help?" Speaking of Jade… "O roar of the earth, bring forth the fangs of the mighty dragon… Ground Dasher!" As I back-flipped to get out of the way, I noted with satisfaction that the liger was now dead. "Well, that was pitiful," I heard Jade comment. I chuckled and turned to look back at Luke and Tear.

"Wh-whoa…" the redhead muttered. Tear, too, seemed in awe.

"Echo is most certainly a ninja, and he's definitely not an ordinary fonist…" she commented. I gave Jade a two-finger salute, then ran over to Ion.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked him. He nodded as Jade called Anise over. I noticed Luke and Tear to the side. Luke looked rather unhappy about something… probably the broken eggs in the liger queen's nest.

"You're quite kind, or perhaps just soft," I heard Tear say. Luke glared at her.

"…And you're cold!" he countered. Jade walked over to them.

"Oh, dear. Lover's quarrel?" he teased. I giggled at the looks on their faces as they denied his statement. "I'm joking. And please, call me Jade. I'm not accustomed to being called by my family name," he said after a moment. Ion walked over to him.

"Jade, I'm sorry for running off and doing this," he said. Jade's attention was redirected to the green-haired boy.

"It's unlike you t do something like this when you know it's wrong," he commented. Ion nodded.

"Together with Yulia, the cheagles are the foundation of the Order of Lorelei. I felt I had to take responsibility for any trouble they had caused…" he explained.

"And that's why you used your power? Didn't the doctor tell you not to?" Jade asked. Ion apologized and Jade looked back down at Tear and Luke. "And you've involved civilians as well." Luke rolled his eyes.

"Hey, old man, he's apologizing, right? Give him a break," the redhead grumbled. I raised an eyebrow.

"Wow. Didn't expect you to start defending Ion there…" I muttered. Jade and Tear looked like they agreed.

"Yes, I expected you to complain about being dragged into this. I'm a bit surprised," Jade said. The he sighed. "Well, we don't have much time anyway. I'll stop the lecture at that."

"The letter arrived, didn't it?" Ion asked. Jade nodded.

"Yes. Now, let's go ahead and get out of this forest," he said. Mieu hopped up onto Luke's head.

"No. We have to report to the elder!" he argued. Jade looked surprised.

"…A cheagle speaking a human language?" he wondered.

"It's the power of the Sorcerer's Ring, for Mieu. It's an ability I was born with… though no one knows why," Mana told him. Ion and I looked up at Jade.

"Jade, could we stop by the cheagles' home?" Ion asked. Jade sighed.

"Alright. But please don't forget that we haven't much time," he conceded. Ion smiled and looked at Luke, who was in the process of kicking Mieu.

"Luke, thank you for your help. Please, join me for just a little longer," he requested. Luke sighed.

"Well, I've come this far. Might as well," he decided. I crossed my arms.

"You all go on ahead, but there's something I need to talk to Ion about," I told them. Jade raised an eyebrow at me, but shrugged it off and left. Tear, likewise, seemed suspicious of my intentions, though Luke didn't seem to care. Finally, Ion and I were left alone.

"What is it, Echo?" Ion asked me. I looked down and smiled at him.

"I wanted to inform you that I have every intention of continuing your training as far as your physical endurance will allow," I told him. He smiled.

"Thanks… Echo, you saw me collapse from the Daathic Arte earlier, right?" he asked, smile still in place. I sighed.

"Akashic Torment is a Ninjitsu Arte, Ion. I know about how much strain that puts on my own body, so if that caused you to collapse, then I've got a very good idea of just how much you can handle," I said. Ion sighed.

"True, but if I hadn't stood up so fast, I would've been fine," he told me. "And that's new. All Daathic Artes drain my strength, but that's the first time I almost stood up right after using Akashic Torment."

I raised an eyebrow. That was definitely new. "Hmm… It may just be the training strengthening your stamina," I told him. Ion shrugged.

"Either way, I'd like to continue," he said. I chuckled.

"Oh, don't worry. We will."

* * *

**Kairi: Well, as you can see, not all of the Ninjitsu artes belong to us. When we were making the eighth tier, we were think of an arte that we realized was really similar to Akashic Torment, so rather than trying to create a whole new arte, since we still needed to make the ninth tier arte, we just stuck that in there.**

**Winx: Hooray for laziness!**

**Kairi: Well, we're finally past the Cheagle Woods. OMG, next chapter is in 3rd Person POV!**

**Winx: And then we get Whisper back?**

**Kairi: Yup. Actually, we get Whisper back next chapter. And the chapter after that is in her POV.**

**Winx: YES!**

**Kairi: -sighs- Please leave a review on your way out…**


	5. Chapter 4: Calm Before the Storm

**Kairi: So, I apologize right now for all of the POV switching. Really, this chapter was stubborn about being written, so… Oh well.**

**Winx: -sighs- At least you got it done in time.**

**Kairi: So to speak… Oh well. Apologies for taking so long with this chapter as well, but we were both preparing for NaNoWriMo… So then. We don't own! Go enjoy!**

* * *

3rd Person POV

Luke couldn't decide who was more annoying. The four-eyed colonel in front of him, or the purple-haired ninja that was leaning against the wall. He and Tear had been sitting in that room for hours now. The only differences between that point and this were that Echo and Ion seemed to be having a very secretive conversation and Jade had finally shown up.

The colonel in question stepped forward and cleared his throat, managing to silence the room, not that that was difficult, seeing as how the only ones talking were Echo and Ion. The duo in question separated, Ion returning to Anise's side, Echo jumping up into the bunk to sit.

"The Seventh Fonon hyperresonance came from the direction of the capital of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear and converged inside Malkuth territory near Tataroo Valley," Jade began. "Now, if you two were the source of that hyperresonance, that would make you guilty of illegally crossing the border into our country, wouldn't it?"

Luke sighed. "Jeez, you're obnoxious."

* * *

Elsewhere on the Tartarus, two people hid from the sight of the Malkuth soldiers passing by. One of them sighed quietly.

"Remind me again why we're hiding onboard a Malkuth landship?" he wondered. His companion chuckled.

"You said you were after a redhead, didn't you? I saw one come onboard while you were at the other end," she said. "It may have been the wrong person, but personally, I doubt it."

"We're going to get caught if we keep this up for too long though," the man told her. She smiled.

"Don't underestimate me," she said quite simply. She stood carefully and motioned for him to follow, which he did quietly. The two of them moved almost-silently through the landship. The woman led her companion further up than he thought they were going, and as she slipped the cover off of a vent, he crossed his arms.

"What are you doing?" he asked. She turned to him and smiled.

"Give me a lift," she said. He sighed and did so, and she somehow managed to turn around in the vent and help him up. After replacing the cover on the vent, they started moving. They didn't go far before the woman removed the cover from another vent and then exited it. Her companion followed, and she replaced the vent again. They were on a hard-to-reach maintenance deck, and the woman smiled at her companion.

"Well then. Now we wait," she told him. He raised an eyebrow.

"For what?" he wondered. She shrugged.

"For whenever we feel is the opportune moment," she replied. The man sighed.

They'd be up here for awhile, then.

* * *

Echo grinned. "Fourteen," she called out. Ion turned around almost completely and let another shuriken fly while calling the one he had just thrown a moment ago back to his left hand. "Nine," Echo said, giving Ion a much easier target. "Eighteen." Ion hit the target to the left of the one he had just thrown at.

They were in a storage room on board the Tartarus. Luke and Tear had agreed to help them earlier in the day, but something had gotten caught in the machinery of the Tartarus and they had to stop to repair it. Echo had asked Luke and Tear to keep Anise busy. Anise had happily left with Luke, for whatever reason, leaving Ion in the ninja's hands.

They had started out simply throwing the shuriken one after another in quick succession, then she had come up with the idea of doing their little game. There were ten targets, each with two numbers. Since he hadn't played this game before, she had made it easy. One and eleven were the same target, two and twelve, and so on, in order going clockwise.

"Six," she called out, no less than a second after Ion's shuriken embedded itself into the target. Ion took a deep breath and threw the shuriken, then held a hand up. They'd been at it for a while, so Echo wasn't surprised that he needed a break. She grinned and jumped down from the crate she had been sitting on, summoning the two shuriken back to her pouch and re-arranging the numbers above the targets so that they were random. The she looked back at Ion.

"Your turn," she said happily, drawing four shuriken. "And keep up the pace for me, would you please?" Ion laughed and climbed up on top of the crate she had been on earlier.

A moment later, a string of numbers started coming out of his mouth, and Echo started throwing. Ion noted that she hit every target before or as he was stating the next number, and that despite the numbers being in random order, she seemed to be able to find them rather quickly. He smiled as he continued calling out numbers. Sure, Echo was way ahead of him, but he was proud of where he had gotten in as little time as he had. Echo had said he was a natural.

The two of them carried on in this pattern for a while, switching Ion out whenever he got tired, which Echo noted was taking longer and longer, and switching him back in once he'd recovered, which she again noted was taking less and less time. Once Ion asked for the fifth time if he could go again, Echo stopped and looked up at him.

"Your stamina's getting a heck of a lot better. We've been at this for hours now, you realize that, don't you?" she asked. Ion nodded.

"Yeah… Wait… Hours?" he stopped. Then a look crossed his face and Echo sighed.

"If Anise asks where we were, you were helping me train. Which, really, you are. So, yeah. There's one more thing I'd like you to learn before we quit today," she told him. He tilted his head to the side and jumped down from where he had been sitting.

"What is it?" he asked. Echo grinned and turned, throwing a shuriken at the farthest target, which had the numbers 8 and 13 over it. Midway between Echo and the target, it burst into flame.

"Let's just say it's a good thing these targets have been fire-proofed," she told him. Ion laughed and summoned the shuriken back to himself, then looked over at Echo as she started to explain. A moment later, the shuriken went flying through the air. The purple-haired ninja noted the small embers that it let off as it struck the target and crossed her arms.

"Ah…" Ion sighed, summoning the shuriken back. Echo watched carefully as he tried again, and this time, he managed to get a proper flame out of it. She crossed her arms.

"You know… you're going kinda backwards compared to most people… which is a good thing, because I don't want to try and explain to Anise why you're carrying burnt gloves around," she commented as Ion threw another star. This one missed its intended target and hit the wall behind it. Unfortunately, this one had caught fire perfectly, if a little later than it should have, and walls weren't fire-proof.

"Uh-oh," Ion commented. Echo had already drawn three ninja stars, and she tossed them into the wall around the flame that was trying to eat away at it. Water cascaded from the three shuriken, effectively putting the fire out.

"Problem solved," Echo commented. "And that is why the next one we're working with is Fenrir."

Ion tilted his head to the side. "Fenrir?" he wondered. Echo nodded.

"Fenrir is kinda like… Splash. And Leviathan, the stronger version of the fourth fonon-based artes, is comparable to Blessed Drops," she explained. "The one we've been working with is Draconis, the weaker of the two fire artes."

"Oh, I get it now," Ion said. Echo grinned.

"Why don't we work with Fenrir for a little bit before we quit for the day. That way, if we get separated and you have a few shuriken with you, you can practice with Draconis and have Fenrir in case you accidentally set something on fire," she reasoned. Ion nodded, and the ninja happily went about explaining how Fenrir worked. It was similar to Draconis, except that the fourth fonons were propelled by the shuriken rather than focused by it.

After a while, Ion was forced to quit, because his stamina had taken all the abuse it could. Echo, pleased by the work they had accomplished, handed over something she had been working on in her spare time.

The pouch was small and off-white, with a green ribbon tying it closed. Inside were ten of her originally thirty shuriken. Ion looked inside and grinned, but Echo held up a finger in a 'wait a moment' pose.

"That pouch will hold the shuriken, but you won't be able to summon them straight back to the pouch itself, like I do with mine. That would require inscribing new fonic glyphs on each of the shuriken and weaving a fonic glyph into the pouch, which I obviously can't do," she told him. "Well, at least not in a short amount of time," she amended her statement. "You'll have to put the shuriken back in yourself, but at least you'll have something to defend yourself with if we get split up. Oh, and once you've mastered the four basic shuriken artes, I'll teach you a couple of kunai artes."

Ion's grin returned, and, after slipping the pouch into one of his many hidden pockets, he hugged Echo, who giggled and hugged him back. "Thank you, Echo," the green-haired boy said happily.

The ninja rolled her eyes. "Come on. Let's go find Anise and see what kind of trouble she's gotten into.

* * *

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be protecting Ion?" Luke asked as the group came back down the hallway. They had spent all day wandering around the landship, and now, he was starting to wonder where Ion and Echo had gotten off to. Anise suddenly looked concerned.

"You know, now that you mention it, I haven't seen him or Echo since we left the cabin earlier," she said. "I trust Echo to protect Ion, but…"

"But what?" Echo asked as she and Ion walked out of another hallway. Anise, Luke, Tear, and Mieu stopped at the corner with them. "Just because I have to watch after Ion, that doesn't mean I can't train myself while I'm at it," she added. Anise tilted her head to the side.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that you were training all day and Ion was just watching?" she asked. Echo shrugged.

"Well, he wasn't watching the whole time. He helped…" she told her. Anise raised an eyebrow. "We were playing a bit of a game. Ion would call out a number between one and twenty, and I'd throw a shuriken at whichever target matched up with that number."

"That sounds stupid," Luke commented. Echo smiled.

"You wanna try it? It's not as easy as it sounds… which is why it makes for an excellent training exercise… If you use something like knives or a bow, at least," she told him. Tear looked interested.

"That does sound like it would be slightly difficult," she said. Ion laughed.

"It's even more difficult if the numbers are all mixed up," he added. Anise giggled.

"Fun as that sounds, I would not try it," she stated. Echo and Tear smiled, and Ion laughed before yawning.

Echo chuckled. "Okay, off to bed with you," she said. Anise took Ion's hand and lead him off with Mieu following, leaving Tear and Luke with Echo. The ninja sighed and started walking in the same general direction Anise and Ion had gone in.

"Hey, Echo, right?" Luke asked. The purple-haired girl turned and started walking backwards.

"Yup," she replied cheerfully. Luke looked bored, but curious at the same time, a feat that honestly amazed Echo.

"How come you're helping Jade? I mean, it's not as if you really had a purpose in the mission originally, and you're not even one of Ion's guardians," he asked. Echo crossed her arms, still managing to walk backwards without running into anyone.

"Well, I'm looking for someone, honestly. Way I figure it, I get word of her, and I'll go after her. Until then, I'm Ion's praetorian whenever Anise feels like taking a break," she told him.

"Praetorian?" he echoed. She laughed.

"Fancy word for protector or guardian," she replied. Luke rolled his eyes, though Tear seemed amused and slightly shocked. Echo looked over at her and smiled. "What's the matter? Didn't think I knew any big words?"

Tear rolled her eyes before pulling Luke into their cabin. Echo grinned and headed to her own cabin, intending to get a nice long nap at least.

* * *

The next morning was interesting, to say the least. Luke, it seemed, was not a morning person, and neither was Tear, really, though she was at least used to rising early, enough so that Echo was almost fooled. Anise, like the two of them, was also not a morning person.

Echo, Ion, and Jade, on the other hand…

"How can you be so happy this early in the morning? You were grumpy yesterday," Anise grumbled to the seated Echo as she, Luke, and Tear walked into the mostly-empty mess hall. Most of the soldiers had come and gone already. Echo grinned.

"Eh, I was in laze-mode yesterday morning. I like watching the sunrise, starting before the sky even starts to get light. If you think this is early, imagine how early that is," she replied. Anise cringed.

"Too early," she replied. Jade chuckled before standing and walking off, probably toward the bridge. After grabbing their breakfasts, Luke and Tear sat across from Echo and Ion, while Anise managed to squeeze in next to them. Ion looked at Anise, and Echo couldn't help but think that there was a hopeful glint to his eye.

"Anise, are going to be spending the day with Luke and Tear again?" he asked. Anise over at Echo.

"Don't look at me, you're his guardian," the ninja replied. Anise rolled her eyes and dropped her head to the table.

"It's too early for questions like this. Breakfast first, then we'll figure out schedules," she mumbled into the table. Echo laughed, drawing an odd look from Luke.

"What's so funny?" he asked. Echo grinned.

"Oh, nothing," she replied. The look the redhead was giving her told her that he didn't believe her. "It's just, you remember what I said about looking for someone? The girl I'm looking for isn't much of a morning person either," she finally explained.

Once breakfast was finished, however, it was decided that Anise would spend the day with Luke and Tear again, while Ion and Echo would be left to their own devices. The two exchanged a grin as they left the mess hall, and then they were running down the halls toward their 'practice room'.

Not an hour later, though, the Tartarus shook. Echo looked over at Ion, who had called the shuriken he had been throwing back before slipping the pouch into a pocket and joining her in the hallway. Echo flipped open the nearest pipe to hear:

"You're the captain. The ship is yours," from Jade.

From both the general overhead and the pipe replied, "Understood, Sir! Large swarm of monsters 20 kilometers ahead! All hands, battle stations! Repeat! All hands, battle stations!"

Echo looked down at Ion. "We need to find Anise," she said simply. Ion nodded, and the two took off running down the halls. They didn't make it far before the first Oracle Knights started reaching them. Echo, understanding that the Oracle Knights were not friendly despite the Fon Master being behind her, attacked.

After a moment's hesitation, Ion started throwing shuriken as well, each one infused with either fourth or fifth fonons, and more often the latter.

As Echo's chakrams sliced through the last of that group of soldiers, she looked back at Ion, who had blood splattered across his tabard as he stared in shock at the dead soldier in front of him. She cringed. "Ion, you didn't have to—"

"No," he interrupted her. He looked up at her as he put the pouch back in his pocket. "If I don't start fighting back now, I'll be a hindrance forever." Echo sighed and let her chakrams shrink into shuriken once more before slipping them into her pouch.

"Let's just find Anise," she decided. The two continued through the landship, walking this time, and finally, they found the girl they were looking for.

"Echo! Ion! Are you al—" she cut off, staring in shock past Echo. "Ion!" she cried. Her eyes were locked onto the blood on his tabard, and he shook his head.

"I'm fine, Anise. The blood is from an Oracle Knight," he told her, though he didn't tell her that it was actually he who killed the soldier. Anise seemed happy enough with that answer.

"You've still got the Emperor's letter, don't you?" she asked. Ion nodded.

"Yes, but… Anise, will you hold onto it for me?" he asked. She nodded and took the letter from him, then pointed in horror behind the Fon Master. Echo threw three shuriken before Anise could shout a warning.

"Anise, take Ion and go! Find Jade!" she yelled, jumping into the fray. Anise grabbed Ion's arm and drug him off, keeping Tokunaga in her hand as she did so. Echo was already engaged in combat with the group of Oracle Knights.

Ion was keeping an eye out for more soldiers as Anise led him through the ship. He knew that the soldiers that had fought already wouldn't be the only ones, and that the duo would likely run into more as they went.

Sure enough, they ran into another group of Oracle soldiers as they were running down one of the outer hallways. Anise enlarged Tokunaga and began to fight them, but Ion had to make a quick choice between fighting back and keeping his fighting abilities a secret.

The arrival of Arietta solved that problem for him quickly, as two more Oracle Knights managed to capture him. Anise tried to fight her way back to him, only for a well-placed arte to knock her off-balance and through an already-widened porthole. "Anise!" Ion cried out.

"I'll kill you bastards!" he heard Anise scream as she fell. Ion almost rolled his eyes. Yes, that was Anise. He didn't have much longer to think about it before the Oracle Knights led him over to Arietta.

* * *

The young woman and her companion watched as the landship was overtaken. The man spotted the redhead the woman had mentioned earlier, and was about to jump down to help him, but the woman held him back.

"Wait! We'll just get ourselves caught too," she told him. A moment later, the redhead's companions joined him, and a group of Oracle Knights captured the group.

"Damn!" the man hissed. The young woman sighed.

"They've been arrested, not killed. We'll worry about rescuing them in a minute, right now we need to get back under cover," she stated. The man sighed and followed her. Once they deemed themselves to be safe again, they started making plans.

Two hours later, and they still hadn't come up with anything good. The man sighed, but his companion held up a hand to silence him. A second later, the landship became dark, and she groaned.

"Argh… I can't see shit in the dark," she grumbled. Her companion chuckled before leading the way back out of their hiding place.

"Any ideas why the landship suddenly shut down though?" he asked as they emerged onto the high point on the deck. The woman shook her head.

"No… I heard something about a corpse hunt, but…" she replied. The man shrugged.

"Well, we might as well make ourselves comfortable until the power comes back on," he said. The other nodded, and the two sat, each looking down at the deck below, wondering what had happened and why.

* * *

Ion was tired. Certainly, not as tired as he was pretending to be, but he was tired. The Oracle Knight carrying him wasn't complaining too much, but he figured that he'd be fine to walk, so he looked over at Legretta.

"I'm feeling much better now. I can walk the rest of the way," he told her. She stopped and examined him, then nodded.

"Alright," she agreed. The Oracle Knight let Ion down, and the group continued on its way. The Tartarus was in sight, though they were still a ways away. Something seemed a little… off… though.

"Major, has the Tartarus shut down?" one of the soldiers asked. Legretta nodded.

"It would appear so," she said simply. They reached the landship and she stopped, then looked over at the soldier who had carried Ion. "Open the emergency hatch," she ordered. The soldier lowered the ramp and ran up to do so…

Only to have a fireball blown in his face. Ion resisted the urge to smile as Legretta drew her guns on Luke only to have Jade launching himself at her, spear in hand. She dodged his initial attack, but was pinned by his spear his second try. Luke used Mieu as a club to knock another soldier out.

"Tear, your fonic hymn!" Jade ordered. Legretta seemed surprised.

"Tear? Tear Grants!" she cried in shock. Tear gasped.

"Major Legretta!" she realized. Her hesitation allowed for a liger to attack her, while a green blur knocked Jade away from Legretta, who then blocked Ion's attempt to get around the God-Generals. Legretta pointed her guns on Jade and Tear, while the third soldier from Ion's escort held his sword at Luke's neck.

"Now, drop your weapons and—" Legretta started, pausing to look up at the Tartarus. After deciding that it was unimportant, she looked back at the trio in front of her…

Only to have a blonde man land on her and grab Ion, carrying him over to Luke's side as the redhead used Mieu as a club once more to get the soldier out of his face. Legretta shot two bullets at the man, who used his sword to deflect them.

Two cries, one of surprise and one of pain caught Legretta's attention. Holding Arietta captive was Jade, whose spear point was at her neck.

And standing off a little ways was Sync, whose arm was painfully twisted back by a young woman with dark skin and white hair, whose blue eyes glinted almost dangerously as she held her bow against Sync's neck.

* * *

**Kairi: Hehe… Epic entrance for Whisper!**

**Winx: Yay! She's back! She's back, she's back, she's back!**

**Kairi: You get to write the next chapter.**

**Winx: …Crap.**

**Kairi: And you also have to finish the next chapter of Boundaries of the Mind by Thursday.**

**Winx: Ugh… Okay, okay… next?**

**Kairi: So… Please review! We're trying to speed up the updates, really we are! (Except I keep forgetting about this story [partly due to the fact that I have… um… how many? of my own stories to worry about and partly due to the fact that I have a bad memory, period] and Winx is slow.) So review and remind us that the story exists!**

**Winx: Yup! And we'll definitely be back on December 2nd! (Maybe earlier, if you guys are persuasive enough.)**


End file.
